Unlike some people they are not so serious 'all the time'...
For example a friend was having a birthday party and while there someone started ordering a bunch of drinks.
Understandibly someone who was raised in Provo would go "oh man these guys are boozing it up right in front of me"....
In response one Mormon said to another Mormon "what do think, they are a bunch of gentiles or something?"
Meaning, 'live with it and have fun. Not everyone on the planet is a Mormon, and yes some people do drink beer.'
Its kind of like a call to still be good but don't be so sheltered. Just because they drink beer doesn't mean they have leprosy.
There is another use of the word in Mormon slang... One of my friends had a date with a completely hot girl who was not LDS... Before he left some of the guys were jiving him....'don't go all gentile on us...'...meaning 'keep the faith bro'....
20 something year olds generally don't think about antiquity and dictionary definitions when they are talking about this stuff.
20 something year olds generally don’t think about antiquity and dictionary definitions when they are talking about this stuff.***
In this area we call the Seventh-day Adventists “Cabbage Crunchers” because so many hold to strict vegetarianism.
They refer to us as “Pork Rinds”.