Los Otros
Origins and meaning of the word guiri
From the column Unnatural Habitat
Originally published on Barcelonareporter.com

The etymology of the word guiri varies quite a bit. Searching Google and dictionaries one common and somewhat plausible origin is from the turbulent era of 19th century Spain . After kicking out the Frenchies, the Spaniards juggled enough governments to put Argentinean street performers to shame. This resulted in the Carlist wars, which involved two claimants to the Spanish throne. In the Carlist stronghold of Navarra and the Basque country the liberals (or those on the side of Cristina de Borbón fighting against the Carlists) were called ‘guristinos' - which means ‘cristino', in reference to Cristina de Borbón. They were considered ‘outsiders', or ‘others' - hence the possible link to today's current usage.

Although the origin of the word itself is murky, it's widely accepted that guiri , as it is used today, was first used during the tourist boom during the last two decades of Francisco's regime. It came to mean blonde, tall, sunburned, bikini-wearing and decadent. Most importantly transient . And borracho de sangria .

Legend has it there's a nomadic tribe of blonde sun worshippers wandering the streets of Barcelona . They subsist on a steady diet of beer and chips; when they're feeling more adventurous they might try one of the local variants of comida. It's said they gather in the centric neighborhoods of Barcelona and suck on the Swedish government's teat to the tune of €2,300 a month - unemployment, that is, i.e. vacations subsidized by the Swedish government.

This is the classic example of a guiri.

They are nomadic, so they grow no attachment to the land. Come autumn, the sun is a little less toasty, and the northern lands from whence they came beckon them again. The cycle repeats the following year.

There are so many possible interpretations of the world guiri, but modern day usage almost unanimously agrees. The amalgam of wealthy, idle, blonde, and clueless is without a doubt the favored one. Guiri, pronounced "girry", is a disparaging term invented by the local populace to describe what is seen as an alien population. The Swedes are a textbook example, but guiri can be applied to an American or a Brit just as easily. Just remember the key words: wealthy, idle, blonde, and clueless.

You might as well capitalize that last one: CLUELESS. Lost in the streets with their cameras …

It's important to distinguish a guiri from an immigrant, or an expat. An Ecuadorian immigrant sending monthly stipends to a burgeoning family back home; a Moroccan balsero washed up on the shores of Ceuta; a Pakistani passing six months a year in his uncle's market in the Raval; a Chinese citizen working in a venta al mayor on Trafalgar - all have one thing in common. They are not guiris. To the people here they are extranjeros first and foremost; behind closed doors they might be called things like moros, sudacas, or chinos.

Guiri is the term used for the itinerant populations attracted to Spain for almost the exact opposite reasons as the above-mentioned extranjeros. Spain represents an escape from routine to sun, disinhibition, and cheap liquor. It's not a means to an end. It's a means away from an end.

Before the civic ordnance crackdown by the Clos government, the beaches of Barcelenota on down to Marbella were a perfect mixture of these two types of foreigners. The guiris wore wrap around D&G shades and flower print clam diggers; went topless; basked in the Catalonian sunshine, counting how much further they could stretch their euros, dollars or pounds. Every five minutes or so the distant drone of house music would be punctuated by a man chanting something sounding like:

waddacocacolasirvayzabeeah

waddacococalasirvayzabeeah

waddacococalasirvayzabeeah

The other extranjero, this time of Pakistani origin, would walk by with a duffel bag or ice chest full of Estrella and Coca-Cola, two euros a pop. The guiri would buy when he felt like it … to get tossed, wasted, blau, plastered what have you. Or just something to quench their thirst while getting a third degree sunburn. Most often they would send the upstart Pakistani businessman off to the next lump on the beach with a “no gracias” or a “no thanks”.

This still goes on, but instead of brazenly walking up to the sunbathing beauties and fatties, the illegal beer vendors hide their stash in holes in the sand. The ordnance laws, far from stopping a perceived problem (for the chiringuitos selling overpriced drinks), are creating a nuisance for guys just trying to make ends meet. So, you see, the cycle continues after a brief interruption …

A guiri mixes with the local population of xarnegos and Catalans in places like the mercado and discotheques. Almost never in the workplace - for they would cease to be guiris. A guiri doesn't have to work because they are here on extended vacations. It's all about fun and, at least until very recently, the fantastically imbalanced exchange rate. Hence, the need to differentiate them from the rest of the extranjeros. Their acquisitive power, if they are of the cookie-cutter guiri variety, is often times greater than the majority of the native population residing in Barcelona . Whereas discrimination is most often associated with a native population looking down on a less-well-to-do immigrant population, the reverse is happening here. It's a phenomenon probably found in any other country that can offer temperate weather, a quaint local feel - or at least the myth of it - and a weaker economy.

One word comes to mind, envidia.

Envidia, or envy, is a predicate of a much broader gut feeling in the local population which could just as easily say their dislike comes from an innate disgust, anger at the guiris lack of cultural sense, or a perceived arrogance when it comes to the number one powder keg issue in Catalonia - language. But the guiri will continue to party and book return flights on Ryanair because, well, a guiri is a guiri. They just don't get it. Guiri, guiri, guiri means nothing to them. Most likely because they don't understand a word of what the locals are saying. Most important for them, and the pocket linings of Catalan businessmen, is the euros that they have left to enjoy more sol, playa, sangria, and maybe sexo.

So a guiri might be a lot of things, but they are only guiris to the people that say it, that is the Spaniards. The guiris themselves will continue being Swedes, Germans, Brits, Dutch, French, Americans, and Canadians. Only when they have spent time here, say as an expat or further down the line as an actual tax-paying, €1,000-bruto-a-month-earning citizen, will they realize that that word guiri, so often used on them, is actually a disparaging term used to limn a whole spectrum of adjectives, not all of them pleasing. A guiri most likely will be “haciéndose el sueco”, doing the Swede - which means ‘playing dumb', until one fine day they realize, “Hey, Paco and Pepa and Jordi and Montserrat actually breathe, eat and have opinions”. They'll realize they are not just animatronics on the enchanting Pueblo Español ride in a kind of hedonistic Disneyland .

They'll stop being guiris and become just plain old extranjeros.