Should white Americans be called "Indigenous Europeans?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dislike the term "white" as it is not very descriptive. White people have Euro ancestry. Do you like the term "white" or would you prefer another term to refer to your skin color or ancestral background?

White Americans who live here now lived in Europe for thousands of years, and are thus indigenous to that continent. What would be a better term for them?

Well the technical term is caucasian, not white. But I don't like that either. I'd rather be called Euro-American.

[Anonymous]

Except that young Latinos and Hispanics disagree and again self select. It cycles - sometimes Hispanic is preferred and sometimes Latino is preferred. Sometimes it's neither!

What your are referring to are increasingly archaic descriptors:

Spanish refers to a person whose family is of Spanish heritage, a family of Spaniards.

Latinos are geographically connected as it denotes a shared background of Latin American countries.

Hispanic refers to a linguistic connection to the Spanish language.

On one hand, I am Latina and Hispanic - my mothers family is from a Central American country and I speak Spanish. My father's family is all white from England. So what am I? An indigenous European Hispanic Latina?

My friend from Brazil is Latina and Brazilian but not Hispanic.

However my Brazilian friend, Dominican friend, and I share a love of plantains and salsa music. We are connected in a way we understand and the current options of Hispanic and Latino aren't good enough which is why they are at this point used interchangeably.

we gladly self identify by country for World Cup though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So incorrect use of Arab is ok and widely utilized but Persian can't be used? This whole discussion is ridiculous

Not if you are Saudi...

.

Which is why I noted incorrect use - it's often used as a blanket term rather than an accurate descriptor. If Arab is used incorrectly to denote a variety of people from a shared or similar linguistic, geographical, and cultural background why the beef with people choosing to continue using Persian to denote those same shared characteristics?

Because Persia DOES NOT EXIST. When a 23 year old tells me they are Persian I roll my eyes.

Persia was renamed Iran in 1935. Same place, just the name changed. Suppose you were born in Rhodesia and left before it was renamed Zimbabwe. Can you say you are Rhodesian, or do you have to say you are Zimbabwean? Same with Burma and Myanmar. According to your standard Burma no longer exists so no one can say they are Burmese. They must say they are Myanmarian. (I think that's how it goes.) Can someone not say they are Palestinian because there is no official state of Palestine? And think of the Congo. It was renamed Zaire for 25 years and then went back to Congo (Democratic Republic of).

And IMO Persia has a much better ring to it than Iran in English, especially when it is pronounced like I ran.

1935, eh? So the 20 year olds saying they are Persian were certainly born there.

Palestine is apples to oranges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

1935, eh? So the 20 year olds saying they are Persian were certainly born there.

Palestine is apples to oranges.

What fun, telling people who belong to Group X that their name for themselves is all wrong!

But seriously, why would a person do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

1935, eh? So the 20 year olds saying they are Persian were certainly born there.

Palestine is apples to oranges.

What fun, telling people who belong to Group X that their name for themselves is all wrong!

But seriously, why would a person do that?

You do know that 25 year olds have parents and elders in their families who did grow up using Persian and thus passed it on? Seriously why the fixation on Persian?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

1935, eh? So the 20 year olds saying they are Persian were certainly born there.

Palestine is apples to oranges.

What fun, telling people who belong to Group X that their name for themselves is all wrong!

But seriously, why would a person do that?

You do know that 25 year olds have parents and elders in their families who did grow up using Persian and thus passed it on? Seriously why the fixation on Persian?

If my family was Prussian at some point and my great great grandparent passed it on then I can use the term?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

1935, eh? So the 20 year olds saying they are Persian were certainly born there.

Palestine is apples to oranges.

What fun, telling people who belong to Group X that their name for themselves is all wrong!

But seriously, why would a person do that?

You do know that 25 year olds have parents and elders in their families who did grow up using Persian and thus passed it on? Seriously why the fixation on Persian?

You are where you are born. I am Anerican, not Chinese.

[Anonymous]

Why do so many Americans always want to pretend they're something they aren't and try to exoticize themselves?
Like "I'm 0.002% German, 25% Italian... bla bla...", but don't even speak the language, let alone ever been to those places. And now "indigenous Europeans"??? Give me a break.
You're American and you're white. Get over it. Seriously, talk to people from other contries, it sounds ridiculous and nobody else does this.

Signed,

A true European (born and raised)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Except that young Latinos and Hispanics disagree and again self select. It cycles - sometimes Hispanic is preferred and sometimes Latino is preferred. Sometimes it's neither!

What your are referring to are increasingly archaic descriptors:

Spanish refers to a person whose family is of Spanish heritage, a family of Spaniards.

Latinos are geographically connected as it denotes a shared background of Latin American countries.

Hispanic refers to a linguistic connection to the Spanish language.

On one hand, I am Latina and Hispanic - my mothers family is from a Central American country and I speak Spanish. My father's family is all white from England. So what am I? An indigenous European Hispanic Latina?

My friend from Brazil is Latina and Brazilian but not Hispanic.

However my Brazilian friend, Dominican friend, and I share a love of plantains and salsa music. We are connected in a way we understand and the current options of Hispanic and Latino aren't good enough which is why they are at this point used interchangeably.

we gladly self identify by country for World Cup though!

You sound attractive and interesting! Can I have your number? Email?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you're Persian, for instance?

Persia does not exist. How can you be Persian?

It did exist and carries enough historic importance that it is still used today as a descriptor

Lol well I'm Prussian then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You are where you are born. I am Anerican, not Chinese.

Why are you telling other people what to call themselves? Do you like other people telling you what to call yourself?

Also, there is no country called "America".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you're Persian, for instance?

Persia does not exist. How can you be Persian?

It did exist and carries enough historic importance that it is still used today as a descriptor

Lol well I'm Prussian then

If you want to be Prussian, rather than (for example) German, I don't have a problem with that. Why would I?

However, "Prussia" is not a former name for the country of Germany. It's a former name for a part of the country of Germany. There is plenty of Germany that was never Prussia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are where you are born. I am Anerican, not Chinese.

Why are you telling other people what to call themselves? Do you like other people telling you what to call yourself?

Also, there is no country called "America".

Duh. People from the United States are called Americans. There isn't another word.

[Anonymous]

Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid. 3 races.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if you're Persian, for instance?

Persia does not exist. How can you be Persian?

It did exist and carries enough historic importance that it is still used today as a descriptor

Lol well I'm Prussian then

If you want to be Prussian, rather than (for example) German, I don't have a problem with that. Why would I?

However, "Prussia" is not a former name for the country of Germany. It's a former name for a part of the country of Germany. There is plenty of Germany that was never Prussia.

We're from Poland. It says Prussia on our immigration documents.