Size of expat community?

[John.St]

"... hanging out in local bars...

A lumberjack?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL7n5mEmXJo

 

[scotttswan]

I met an old chap in his eighties who came to Argentina as a refrigeration engineer in 1930's married an Argentine lady has lived here ever since and now has Grandchildren; never persevered with speaking spanish and still projected a somewhat detached outlook towards The Argentine. I didnt enquire whether he had felt forced to give up his British passport during the dictatorship but his perspective was as English as mine, he tries to get back to see his family in North London and still follows Spurs. He said there were others like him in Hurlingham etc and I've heard Argentine friends say similar.

That's one definition of an ex-pat!

There's also the old clichéd story that many Scots came to Argentina for the world cup (the one where we were going to win) met a girl and never left.

I wonder how many actually stayed.

 

[PhilipDT]

Here;s the official meaning of Expatriate....

ex·pa·tri·ate(ek-spa

tre-at

)
v. ex·pa·tri·at·ed, ex·pa·tri·at·ing, ex·pa·tri·ates
v.tr. 1. To send into exile. See Synonyms at banish.
2. To remove (oneself) from residence in one's native land.
.

This is me right here. I have almost no desire to live in the US again. I have little desire to continue in Argentina for the long term. But if I were to chose to retire to one or the other, you can be sure I'll be hanging around San Rafeal not San Diego.

 

[arlean]

I hope I read all posts before wading in to this. As a former editor I think Adios_USA gave us the definition and that we continually use the term expat in error. But Adios went to a dictionary and gave us the correct meaning in my opinion.

The word expat is short for ex-patriot. The term patriot signifies loyalty to his country. Therefore expat means that he once was loyal to another country, but he gave up that loyalty and is now an EX patriot. He has left it for good. He is not a tourist, a temporary resident, or a visitor. He is an ex patriot, hence an expat. It is similar to saying "my ex wife." You don't mean it is temporary!

I use it all the time to mean anyone who now lives here because that is how it is understood. But if I were editing corporate material, I would ding that term and ask them if they really mean ex-patriot or if they mean only temporarily there.

I'm sure this is more than you really wanted to know.

 

[afield]

All the semantics are fascinating, but we don't seem to have any reliable or near-reliable statistics on non-Latin American expats in Buenos Aires. Maybe the embassies have something we can use. I wonder how the 40,000 or 100,000 figures I read somewhere originated.

 

[Roxana]

There are some figures from last censo, and Buenos Aires is the city with the biggest number of extranjeros/inmigrantes. I don´t remember if the censo asked non-argentinians if they were tourists or inmigrants. You can find some details about neighbourhoods and numbers below: http://www.infobae.com/notas/634212...gion-con-mayor-porcentaje-de-inmigrantes.html

 

[toongeorges]

The word expat is short for ex-patriot. The term patriot signifies loyalty to his country. Therefore expat means that he once was loyal to another country, but he gave up that loyalty and is now an EX patriot. He has left it for good. He is not a tourist, a temporary resident, or a visitor. He is an ex patriot, hence an expat. It is similar to saying "my ex wife." You don't mean it is temporary!

expat = expatriate. I understand the "ex" meaning "outside" (your own country) not meaning "over and done with" (your nationality). Kind of like the ex in ex-it.

 

[surfing]

expat = expatriate. I understand the "ex" meaning "outside" (your own country) not meaning "over and done with" (your nationality). Kind of like the ex in ex-it.

Correct. The word is: "ExpatriAte". The distinction between patriOt and patriAte is key. "Patriotism" no tine nada que ver.

 

[Matiasba]

So whats the size of the expat community? I once read in La Nacion that were like 200,000, and that BsAs was the second favourite destination of Americans world wide (the first one being Mexico and the third one China, if I remember correctly).

I believe this is exagerated, no way there are 200,000 but it certainly was a time, like 8 years ago or so, when BsAs boomed, full of foreign people everywhere. Then infation expelled them.
But all in all, we have a respectable number today and the community is still big.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Bs As still the most favourite ex-pat destination. However, the melting pot of them all is and still Manhattan,U.S.A...