Spanish vs Hispanic (DC Metro Area)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No it didn't prove OP's point - I didn't call anyone Spanish - I misread the question.

The question was about Spanish people. Your response was about Latin American people.

No shit. Thanks for the clarification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is part Spanish (from Spain) with whole bunch of other stuff thrown into the mix. She looks distinctly different from me and I often get from people in this area "is she part Spanish." I know people in the DC area use that term to mean Salvadoran and other South American countries. What is the history behind using the term Spanish to denote people of the South American diaspora. It seems very politically charged. In California,ou don't hear Mexican Americans calling themselves Spanish.

Here's my take, albeit highly uninformed. Older people sometimes use Spanish to describe people from South and Central America, probably mexicans too, even if it's inaccurate because that's what they called anyone Spanish speaking before we all learned it was not PC. These same people use the word Oriental.

Someowhat younger people learned the word Hispanic to describe people not from Spain, and tend to use that, myself included. I think this term is most common in this area.

Much younger and savvier people use the more correct terms Latino, or actually refer to people by their country or region of origin (central American, salvadorean, etc).

Am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is part Spanish (from Spain) with whole bunch of other stuff thrown into the mix. She looks distinctly different from me and I often get from people in this area "is she part Spanish." I know people in the DC area use that term to mean Salvadoran and other South American countries. What is the history behind using the term Spanish to denote people of the South American diaspora. It seems very politically charged. In California,ou don't hear Mexican Americans calling themselves Spanish.

Here's my take, albeit highly uninformed. Older people sometimes use Spanish to describe people from South and Central America, probably mexicans too, even if it's inaccurate because that's what they called anyone Spanish speaking before we all learned it was not PC. These same people use the word Oriental.

Someowhat younger people learned the word Hispanic to describe people not from Spain, and tend to use that, myself included. I think this term is most common in this area.

Much younger and savvier people use the more correct terms Latino, or actually refer to people by their country or region of origin (central American, salvadorean, etc).

Am I wrong?

It's not that it's not PC. It's that it is geographically and culturally WRONG. It is ignorant, pure and simple.

An OCEAN separates Latin America from Spain. The food, the culture, the people are entirely different. The ONLY thing they share is language (and even then it's not the same).

It's like calling Americans, "English." It's just stupidity and ignorance. Nothing to do with political correctness.

[Anonymous]

My cousin is from Brazil and her boyfriend is Latino and they refer to themselves as Spanish.

[Anonymous]

I teach ESOL and many of my students are from Central America (primarily El Salvador) and they all refer to themselves as Spanish.

[Anonymous]

It's not that it's not PC. It's that it is geographically and culturally WRONG. It is ignorant, pure and simple.

An OCEAN separates Latin America from Spain. The food, the culture, the people are entirely different. The ONLY thing they share is language (and even then it's not the same).

It's like calling Americans, "English." It's just stupidity and ignorance. Nothing to do with political correctness.

Well yes I KNOW that, but obviously there are people who use Spanish ignorantly, and I'm just trying yo break it down. Geez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's not that it's not PC. It's that it is geographically and culturally WRONG. It is ignorant, pure and simple.

An OCEAN separates Latin America from Spain. The food, the culture, the people are entirely different. The ONLY thing they share is language (and even then it's not the same).

It's like calling Americans, "English." It's just stupidity and ignorance. Nothing to do with political correctness.

Well yes I KNOW that, but obviously there are people who use Spanish ignorantly, and I'm just trying yo break it down. Geez.

Why are you getting so worked up by how people define themselves? You argue that the only thing Latin America and Spain have in common is language but that's huge and very uniting. Look at the former Soviet Union, the Russian speaking people still refer to themselves as Russian even though they've been living in, say, Ukraine for hundreds of years. Culturally, the Ukrainines and the Russians living in Ukraine near identical yet they speak different languages and consider themselves different. Same thing in Central Asia except even the Central Asians that speak only Russian don't consider themselves Russian. In the US, should we start defining ourselves by the region in which we live? I can tell you that the culture of DC is vastly different from the culture of the midwest where I grew up. You know the Amish do refer to the non-Amish as "English" don't you? You can argue that geographically the peoples of Central/South America aren't Spanish but if they define themselves as Spanish then who are we to say they are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach ESOL and many of my students are from Central America (primarily El Salvador) and they all refer to themselves as Spanish.

In many LA countries and the Philippines, too, people are in the mind set that the more Spanish blood you have, the better. Everyone wants to be lighter and have a European nose.

[Anonymous]

This thread is very interesting. I've lost sight of the OP's original question. I'm Mexican-American but, given the responses on this thread, I'm not sure what to call myself.

Anyhoo, if someone asked me what I am ethnically, I probably wouldn't say Mexican-American because it's pretty wordy and I'd feel like I was responding to a Census worker.

In defining myself to people, which I don't mind doing if people ask, I would respond differently depending on who is asking and where I am at. For example, if I were in CA, AZ, or another SW state, I would say Chicana. In DC, if someone from Central America was asking, I would say Mexican because that's really what they want to know. If a co-worker or friend asked, I would say Latina. I would never say Spanish because my family isn't from Spain but that's not to say that other folks from Latin America don't or shouldn't use Spanish if they want to. Just doesn't make sense to me personally.

As for hispanic, I don't know. I guess I've used that term before but now I'm more likely to use latina. It's more of an art than a science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It's not that it's not PC. It's that it is geographically and culturally WRONG. It is ignorant, pure and simple.

An OCEAN separates Latin America from Spain. The food, the culture, the people are entirely different. The ONLY thing they share is language (and even then it's not the same).

It's like calling Americans, "English." It's just stupidity and ignorance. Nothing to do with political correctness.

And you are wrong, too. I am Argentine, and culturally, I have much less in common with someone from El Salvador and even Mexico than I do with Spain or even Italy. We don't eat tacos and pupusas, or celebrate a lot of Mexican holidays. We eat pasta and meat. Physically, I look white and am pretty sure I have as much native american blood as most caucasians from the United States do, then again, my grandparents were Italian.

And for the record, I call myself Hispanic or Latina.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not that it's not PC. It's that it is geographically and culturally WRONG. It is ignorant, pure and simple.

An OCEAN separates Latin America from Spain. The food, the culture, the people are entirely different. The ONLY thing they share is language (and even then it's not the same).

It's like calling Americans, "English." It's just stupidity and ignorance. Nothing to do with political correctness.

And you are wrong, too. I am Argentine, and culturally, I have much less in common with someone from El Salvador and even Mexico than I do with Spain or even Italy. We don't eat tacos and pupusas, or celebrate a lot of Mexican holidays. We eat pasta and meat. Physically, I look white and am pretty sure I have as much native american blood as most caucasians from the United States do, then again, my grandparents were Italian.

And for the record, I call myself Hispanic or Latina.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the original point, which is that a person who is Latina, Hispanic, Latin American, Argentine, Chilean, Mexican, or otherwise hails from this side of the Atlantic Ocean is not "Spanish."

I have been to both Argentina and Spain and I agree with your point about having more in common with someone from Spain or Italy than with someone from Mexico or El Salvador. This does not mean, however, that you are "Spanish" just by virtue of speaking the same language they speak in Madrid.

[Anonymous]

My family is from Spain, and I often refer to myself as Hispanic. In fact, when I have to check the box on forms and such, sometimes it defines Hispanic in a footnote. Usually this footnote states, "from a Spanish-speaking country, including Spain." Then it goes on to ask if you are white, black or other. So, I do in fact consider myself Hispanic.

Also, for those that say that people from Spain share nothing but language with Latin Americans, are soooo very wrong. You can just talk to my parents for 50 seconds and you can tell they are a different culture than other "white" people and have much more in common with the typical Hispanic stereotypes. We (collective) have influenced each other's culture with food, music, boisterousness, etc.

Are Spanish people the same as Mexicans? No. But Mexicans aren't the same as Colombians. Even Colombians aren't the same as Colombians if you travel from region to region. In fact, Spaniards are different in different parts of Spain as well. There are dark, Southern Mediterranean (Moorish) Spaniards and there are blonde blue eyed Spaniards. There are Catalans and Basque, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not that it's not PC. It's that it is geographically and culturally WRONG. It is ignorant, pure and simple.

An OCEAN separates Latin America from Spain. The food, the culture, the people are entirely different. The ONLY thing they share is language (and even then it's not the same).

It's like calling Americans, "English." It's just stupidity and ignorance. Nothing to do with political correctness.

And you are wrong, too. I am Argentine, and culturally, I have much less in common with someone from El Salvador and even Mexico than I do with Spain or even Italy. We don't eat tacos and pupusas, or celebrate a lot of Mexican holidays. We eat pasta and meat. Physically, I look white and am pretty sure I have as much native american blood as most caucasians from the United States do, then again, my grandparents were Italian.

And for the record, I call myself Hispanic or Latina.

I'm not sure what this has to do with the original point, which is that a person who is Latina, Hispanic, Latin American, Argentine, Chilean, Mexican, or otherwise hails from this side of the Atlantic Ocean is not "Spanish."

I have been to both Argentina and Spain and I agree with your point about having more in common with someone from Spain or Italy than with someone from Mexico or El Salvador. This does not mean, however, that you are "Spanish" just by virtue of speaking the same language they speak in Madrid.

Agreed, and note that I said I call myself Hispanic or Latina, never Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's not that it's not PC. It's that it is geographically and culturally WRONG. It is ignorant, pure and simple.

An OCEAN separates Latin America from Spain. The food, the culture, the people are entirely different. The ONLY thing they share is language (and even then it's not the same).

It's like calling Americans, "English." It's just stupidity and ignorance. Nothing to do with political correctness.

And you are wrong, too. I am Argentine, and culturally, I have much less in common with someone from El Salvador and even Mexico than I do with Spain or even Italy. We don't eat tacos and pupusas, or celebrate a lot of Mexican holidays. We eat pasta and meat. Physically, I look white and am pretty sure I have as much native american blood as most caucasians from the United States do, then again, my grandparents were Italian.

And for the record, I call myself Hispanic or Latina.

My husband is Mexican and I will also say that you are wrong that the food, culture, and people are entirely different. In Mexico there is still to this day a very heavy Spanish influence. The architecture, a good deal of the cuisine, and some of the cultural customs and of course the religion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My aunt is from Spain. She does not refer to herself as Hispanic or Latino. She views herself (proudly) as Spanish.

Exactly right, just like people from Central and South America proudly refer to themselves as Hispanic or Latino, not as Spanish.

Not my South American in-laws. The entire extended family refers to themselves as Spanish because they don't want anyone to think their blood is mixed with the indigenous populations. They may be from Argentina, Peru and Bolivia but they are Spanish, not Hispanic or Latino.

If the family has been in South America for several generations, they are indeed Hispanic/Latino (as well as Spanish). They are in denial, but that's like Don Francisco saying he's not Hispanic because his parents were German-Jewish immigrants.

Race- white (descendants of Spaniards)
Nationality- Argentinean/Peruvian/Bolivian
Ethnicity- Hispanic/Latino

If you know anything about the Argentinians or Chileans then you know yes, many of them are pompous asses who are weirdly and overly proud/deluded? that they have no indigenous
or african ancestry. In many cases this is false, but they are obssessed with this. As far I can tell, their main claim to fame (Argentines, anyway) is that they all think they are related to various murderous Irishmen and or Chè Guevara.
Is your husband also a pompous ass who fears anyone mistakenly assuming his lineage has been tainted with savage blood or did he escape the madness?

This is really common in a great deal of Central and Latin American countries. It has a historical basis. In Spanish colonial times to be other than of pure Spanish decent could mean a life of social and economic hardship with no way out. I think it's best to educate yourself rather than assuming someone is a pompous ass. The Caste system is long gone but the ramifications still linger.

During the Spanish colonial period, Spaniards developed a complex caste system based on race, which was used for social control and which also determined a person's importance in society.[3] There were four main categories of race: (1) Peninsular, a Spaniard born in Spain; (2) Criollo (feminine, criolla), a person of Spanish descent born in the New World; (3) Indio (fem. india), a person who is descendent of the original inhabitants of the Americas; and (4) Negro (fem. negra) - a person of black African descent, usually a slave or their free descendants.[3]

Persons of mixed race were collectively referred to as "castas".[4][5] Long lists of different terms, used to identify types of people with specific racial or ethnic heritages, were developed by the late seventeenth century. By the end of the colonial period in 1821, over one hundred categories of possible variations of mixture existed.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casta