Hispanics, Latinos or what?

The question is simple: Are Brazilians considered to be hispanics? Or are they latins or latinos, as in Latin America? How about South Americans. Well, the question is simple but the answer is not! This essay will try to answer these serious questions, and explore something of the relationships of Brazilians with their hermanos south of the US border.

Here is the answer: Yes, no, maybe, kind of, not really, whatever....

Money transfers to Latin America, click for image

This is the sign that started it all. I was driving down McDowell Road in Phoenix, and there was this sign hanging from a La Moda Beauty Salon, located around 20th street. I knew that Brazilians weren't really hispoanics, but I didn't realize they were not even Latin Americans! Oh well. Obviously Brazil is not part of Latin America, according to the sign, or the Brazilian flag got lost. And I am sure that La Moda knows as much about Latin Americans as anybody, and they would never lie or play around with words like the "intelligensia" at the universities and government bureaus. Anyway, that started me thinking....

The words Hispanic and Latino are often used interchangeably in the the United States, to identify the peoples from South of the border, and/or their decendants, whether or not born in the USA, whether US citizens, foreign citizens residing legally in this country or even illegal immigrants. The "experts" say (Lord, save us from the experts!) the difference between the two terms can be significant. Hispanic, derived from the Latin word for "Spain," has the broader reference, refering to Spanish-speaking peoples in North and South America and even Spain. This term emphasizes the common denominator of language among communities that sometimes have little else in common - as in Argentina and Guatemala. On the other hand, Latino (or Latin) refers to persons or communities of Latin American origin. In other words, Hispanic has a linguistic and cultural contect, while latin has a more specific geographical referance. Actually, however, this distinction is meaningless, because most hispanics are latinos, and most latinos are hispanics, considering the terms as defined here. Kind of. There is a certain amount of discord as to the use of these two words, some people prefer to be called latino while other demand to be called hispanic. Some think hispanic is OK, while other see it as an anglo term with a bureaurocratic connotation. Some prefer latino because it is considered to have a more natural Spanish-language context. Some people actually take the issue of which word is proper seriously, and can be offended if called by the term they dislike. Obviously, these people have no real problems. The sad truth is that both terms are incorrect and have problems.

Anyway, the focus on this page is Brazil and the question is if Brazilians are hispanics or latins (or latinos) or even if they are human. Actually the only correct term for "Brazilians" is ... Brazilians. All other designations have historical, linguistic and cultural problems.

Hispanics, but not Brazilians (see image). Brazilians cannot technically be considered Hispanics. Even the US census department says so. That term comes from "Hispania" and is directly linked to Spain and Spanish, as evident in any dictionary. In the image on the left you have Internet title pages of Hispanic institutions and academic groups. Notice that the green and yello flag of Brazil ain't there (see above). Also note the University of Arizona Symposium poster in the same image: it says Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian literature, language and culture. The are related, but aren't the same. Two categories, two subjects. Period.

Likewise, the problem with "Latino" as applied to certain inhabitants of the Western hemisphere is that it is too far removed in time and space from its origin in Old Italy. There is for sure a definite linguistic link to Latium, through the Spanish and Portuguese languages, but it is only one of many influences encountered in the so-called modern "latinos" and I don't see why it should have precedence over other influences from other parts of the world, such as Africa or the native peoples of the Americas. Is a Mexican or Brazilian more latino than a Frenchman, Italian or Romanian. I think not. Can a Japanese-Peruvian, Arabic-Brazilian or Uruguayan of German descent to accurately called Latino? How about the Brazilian Indian? Or the natives of Paraguay that still speak Guarani?

At best, the use of the word latino is marginal, and only should be used if referring to people or things generically originating from South and Central America, in a geographic contect, relating to the lands commonly called Latin America.

So, recapulating, if a Brazilian is standing among several Mexicans, Columbians or Bolivians, they are all latinos, meaning from Latin America. If standing by himself, he is a Brazilian, not a latino. Complicated, isn't it. Also, if you must use the L word, please do not substitute the English form "latin" for "Latino". The latter is somewhat correct, the former is totally erroneous. One thing is sure, however, no Brazilian I have ever met was offended by calling him or her a Brazilian, even if hyphenated (Brazilian-American) or second generation. You can't say the same about latino or hispanic.

Of course the PC (Politically Correct) crowd, the feminists and many ethnic activists have trouble with the words "hispanic" and "latino" (see below), either because they are perceived as a mean, white, male, paternalistic imposition of some undefined nature, or - oh horror - the terms are gendered in Spanish and Portuguese. You would be surprised how much the "o" in latino (and many other words) offends the NOW (National Organization of Women who wish they were men) gang. So they will often write "latinos and Latinas..." instead of just "latinos" for the collective form, which is redundant and demonstrates an appalling lack of grammatical sensitivity. Any day now I expect them to propose a gender neutral "e" based ending for all masculine and feminine Spanish and Portuguese nouns (2 latinos + 3 latinas = 5 latines). It would sound horrible, but that would be a small price to pay to make the NOW crowd feel a little better about being women, assuming they really are.

None of this would have been an issue if the darn gringos hadn't stolen the name "America" from Brazil. This pusillanimous act is well documented, even if I am the only person who has noticed it. At the bottom of this page there is a link about this. Read about the United States of Baccalhau and the original, one, true America.

Once again, the fact is that there is no good, single term to accurately designate, as a group, the peoples born in, living or descended from the geographical area South of the US border. At best, the terms Latin American or Hispanic are a mere convenience to be used generically when referring to a broad mix of peoples from multiple countries in/from Central and South America, not to individuals or groups of individuals from a specific country. It seems that latino is winning over hispanic, except for the US Government, but I really don't care for either. Word for word, between Latium and Hispania, I would think that the latter has had a greater and more immediate impact that former. If we are going down this road, why not use the term Romance-Americans instead, in that, technically, Spanish and Portuguese are Romance languages. Also, while on the subject of race and ethnicity, let me say that the US government has no notion of race and does not understand the idea of ethnicity idea. Its classifications are not cientific, and even if they were, it would be meaningless. The standard race groups (on government forms) of white, black, asian, native-american and others (me!) do not take into account the real diversity of the 21 century, and only prove the point that the most racist people are those who want to want to identify everybody by race for political purposes. I ramble.

Below is a quick roundup of some basic definitions found on the web. There is also a note about some of the controversy surrounding the words latino and hispanic, a storm in a politically correct teacup for ignorant people trying to score a few brownie points in a academia and the media. The trouble with both these terms, when applied to Brazilians, is that they are both heavily impacted by Spanish culture, in practice more than theory. I don't like the "latin" component of Latin America, and care even less for the "Hispania" part of Hispanic. One is an ancient language and people from Italy, and the other primarily refers to Spain and/or the Iberian peninsula. Yes, there is an element of truth in each, but this negates other influences that are as important as the "latin" factor.

The final conclusion is that Brazilians are not hispanics, and are only latino in a mixed, multi-national group, when using that word specifically as an abreviated form of Latin-Americans (a geographical reference), and not in a "cultural" context. Anyway, relating to acceptable terms, here are the scores:

Good and 100% correct: Brazilian, Brazilian-American, South American
OK, and acceptable: Latin-Americans (as a geographical indicator)
Not so good, but usable: Latino (as an abreviation of Latin American)
Bad and try to avoid: Hispanic (relating to Spanish language and culture)
Totally wrong and never use: Spanish-American (duh), Chicano, Latins (English form).

Now a word about brazilians and other latinos.... The fact is that almost all Latin-Americans love Brazilians. It's Pele, Roberto Carlos, carnaval, etc... It is also true that Brazilians confuse the heck out of them. Often when other latinos hear the Portuguese language for the first, they are totally baffled. They maybe understand 30 to 50% of the words, but they can't figure out what it is. It is like very bad Spanish, but different, or worse. Then you tell them you are Brazilian and they smile. Of course if you are in Florida, other latinos will say the Brazilians are the ones that talk funny and wear almost no clothes. Anyway, there is a very definite since of solidarity between Brazilians and other Latin-Americans, and at the same time, there is a feeling among Brazilians that their Luso-Brazilian heritage is unique, which it is, and should not be lumped together with Hispanic (Spanish-Speaking) America. Note: "Luso" is the official term describing Portuguese language and culture. It is derived from the words "lusitan" or "lusitania" referring to the ancient Roman name for Portugal.

One last word about terminology, while I am on a personal (or better, editorial) note. I don't like the word aliens and I don't like the word undocumented. I like the word immigrant, and the word illegal accurately reflects a concept defined by "laws". When I think of my kids and their alien cards, I cringe (even though at times I would have considered calling Sigourney Weaver to restore order...). Also, this may shock the liberals, but almost all "undocumented immigrants" do in fact have documents - they just don't have the right ones! (well, not all, there was Paulinho, a brazilian comming to the US illegally that was picked up by the Mexican police and held until his family paid a bribe. They confiscated his documents. Even so Paulinho and family made it to the US through Nogales. He is one of the few real "undocumented" immigrants I know. Ha!). I don't blame illegal immigrants for coming to the US or Europe - most want a better life. Who can argue with that? The fact is that illegal immagration is both good and bad, and up to 9/11 it was a secondary issue. The problem now is that there are some really bad people out there that would love to kill a few million Americans, or Europeans, or Christians, or Westerners, if only to make a point and prove that Allah is great! And there is nothing we can do to stop them except keep them out and/or kill them. It is a sad, dirty world!

THE HISPANIC VS LATINO CONTROVERSY (Dumb and dumber, or bad and worse)

Here is a short summery of the political controversy regarding the use of these two terms, from the folks at dictionary.com, based upon the American Heritage(r) Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition:
A more important distinction concerns the sociopolitical rift that has opened between Latino and Hispanic in American usage. For a certain segment of the Spanish-speaking population, Latino is a term of ethnic pride and Hispanic a label that borders on the offensive. According to this view, Hispanic lacks the authenticity and cultural resonance of Latino, with its Spanish sound and its ability to show the feminine form Latina when used of women. Furthermore, Hispanicthe term used by the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agenciesis said to bear the stamp of an Anglo establishment far removed from the concerns of the Spanish-speaking community. While these views are strongly held by some, they are by no means universal, and the division in usage seems as related to geography as it is to politics, with Latino widely preferred in California and Hispanic the more usual term in Florida and Texas. Even in these regions, however, usage is often mixed, and it is not uncommon to find both terms used by the same writer or speaker...."

Now I really like the part about the "authenticity and cultural resonance of the word Latino". Of course it is just possible that the ancient peoples of Latium actually migrated to Europe from Central America, just like the Aztecs moved to Central Mexico from Phoenix (Yeah, right!). But that's another story. I think this whole issue is pathetic - if you are going to use an inaccurate, flawed term, what difference does it make? Go for it.
The fact is that there is a group of radical left-wing racists that try to play with the words to advance a polical agenda. I am talking about the Aztlan and Mecha folks (Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada) that don't know history or geography and have no respect for human rights. These are truely pathetic people. They like the word "Chicano" which is, in my opinion, a good, descriptive term for Mexican-Americans, but prefer "La Raza" which is appropriate, I guess, because that makes them razistas, which is very close to their intellectual hermanos, the nazistas. Anyway, there is an image on the left above from one of these groups, about the Republica del Norte, which will happen after they (Aztlan and Mecha) take over Northern Mexico, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and then expel all the anglos, blacks, asians and even native-americans. I just can't wait.

DEFINITIONS and USAGE

Here is a quick roundup of definitions for words (identified in bold type) pertaining to this subject.
A. From Websters.com: Latino, noun. Etymology: American Spanish, probably short for latinoamericano Latin American, date: 1946 1. a native or inhabitant of Latin America. 2. a person of Latin-American origin living in the U.S.
B. From Dictionary.com: (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). Latino. 1. A Latin American 2. A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States
C. From WordNet: (Princeton University) Latino. adj : related to or derived from the people or culture of Spain; "the Hispanic population of California is growing rapidly" [syn: Hispanic, Latino] n 1: an American whose first language was Spanish [syn: Spanish American, Hispanic American, Hispanic, Latino] 2: an artificial language
D. From Encarta: Latino: 1. somebody from Latin America: somebody who was born in or is a citizen of any of the countries of Latin America. . 2. Latin American living in U.S.: somebody of Latin-American descent who was born in or is a citizen of the United States. Mid-20th century. From American Spanish, (perhaps via a shortening of latinoamericano ), from Spanish, "Latin, a Latin," from Latin Latinus (see Latin).
E. From Websters.com: Hispanic, adjective. Etymology: Latin hispanicus, from Hispania Iberian Peninsula, Spain, circa 1889. 1. 1. of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent living in the U.S.; 2. especially : one of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin
F. From Dictionary.com: (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) Hispanic. Adj. 1. Of or relating to Spain or Spanish-speaking Latin America. 2. Of or relating to a Spanish-speaking people or culture. n. 1.A Spanish-speaking person. 2. A U.S. citizen or resident of Latin-American or Spanish descent.
G. from WordNet: (Princeton University). Hispanic. adj: related to or derived from the people or culture of Spain; "the Hispanic population of California is growing rapidly" [syn: Hispanic, Latino] n : an American whose first language was Spanish [syn: Spanish American, Hispanic American, Hispanic, Latino]
H. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996: Hispanic. a. [L. Hispanicus.] Of or pertaining to Spain or its language; as, Hispanic words.
I. From Encarta: Hispanic. noun. 1. of Spain and Spanish people: relating to or typical of Spain, or its people or culture. 2. of Spanish-speaking people: relating to or typical of Spanish-speaking people or their culture. 3. of people of Spanish descent: relating to or typical of people descended from Spanish or Latin American people or their culture. [Late 16th century. From Latin Hispanicus, from Hispania "Spain."]
And while I am at it...
J. From Dictionary.com: (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) Spanish American also Spanish-American. n. 1. A native or inhabitant of Spanish America. 2. A U.S. citizen or resident of Hispanic descent. adj. Spanish-American. 1. Of or relating to Spanish America or its peoples or cultures. 2. Of or relating to Spain and America, especially the United States.
K. From WordNet: Princeton University. Spanish American. n 1: an American whose first language was Spanish [syn: Spanish American, Hispanic American, Hispanic, Latino] 2: a resident of Latin America [syn: Latin American, Spanish American]
L. From Dictionary.com: (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) Latin American. n.. 1.A native or inhabitant of Latin America. 2. A person of Latin-American descent.
M. From WordNet: Princeton University. Latin American. n : a resident of Latin America [syn: Latin American, Spanish American]
N. From Dictionary.com: (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language) Spanish America. The former Spanish possessions in the New World, including most of South and Central America, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and other small islands in the Caribbean Sea.
O. From Websters.com: Latin America. Usage: geographical name. 1. 1 Spanish America & Brazil. 2. all of the Americas S of the U.S.
P. From Dictionary.com: (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). Latin America. The countries of the Western Hemisphere south of the United States, especially those speaking Spanish, Portuguese, or French.
Q. From WordNet: Princeton University. Latin America. n : the parts of North and South America south of the United States where Romance languages (Spanish and Portuguese) are spoken [syn: Latin America]
R. From Encarta: Latin. Noun 1. LANGUAGE ancient Roman language: the extinct Indo-European language of ancient Rome and its empire, also adopted across medieval Europe as the language of education, government, law, the Church, the aristocracy, and cultured society. The Romance languages developed from Vulgar Latin, and its prominence during medieval times led to Latin-derived words entering the vocabularies of other European languages. 2. PEOPLES somebody from ancient Latium: somebody who was born or lived in ancient Latium in western central Italy3. PEOPLES somebody speaking a Romance language: somebody who speaks any of the languages derived from Latin, especially somebody living in Latin America or southern Europe.Adjective: 1. LANGUAGE of the Latin language: relating to the Latin language. 2. PEOPLES relating to people speaking Romance languages: relating to any of the peoples using languages derived from Latin, especially those people living in Latin America or in southern Europe. 3. CHRISTIANITY relating to the Roman Catholic Church: belonging or relating to the Roman Catholic Church. 4. LANGUAGE written in the Roman alphabet: written in or relating to the Roman alphabet.

AS BUGS SAID: THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

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Page Last Updated: july, 2004