[brownsugar952]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

"Spanish" refers to those of descent of the country Spain. HUGE difference. Currently, most people who are referred to as "Latino" or "Hispanic" have ethinic ties to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, some Central American and rarely South American and even Southern Pacific locales - anyone who sounds like they have a "spanish accent" or "looks" Latino/Hispanic. "Latino" or "Hispanic" are nomenclatures that are very frequently inaccurately applied - an example is people from Mexico or the Phillipnes.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and we referred to each other (most of us first generation Americans as many of our parents emigrated straight "Off the Boat") as Italian, Irish, Portuguese, Spanish (from Spain), Cape Verdean, Ecuadorian, German.... in fact, many of our Churches were predominently full of specific ethnicities, based on the neighborhood they existed in.

So while I don't have an answer as to what is culturally acceptable, I would think that genaralization is even more dangerous in contemporary times when most people these days are "mutts" (excuse the term, I mean it as being of multiple ethnic origins). I am half Italian (first generation Ameican) and 1/2 each Hungarian and Lithuanian.

At the school where I actually graduated, we actually assisted the first Latin fraternity on our campus. The members were of various descents, but the majority had linear ties to Puerto Rico. I thought it funny at the time that only one or two spoke Spanish.

That's my interpretation. I mean no offense in the terms I have used. This is what I grew up in.

I understand and know the history of the terms hispanic and latino. I was just saying that I NEVER heard the term latino until I got to college. The kids in my high school that were Mexican even called themselves Spanish. I had a friend in high school that I didn't know his family was from Mexico until I got to college.