[Ch2tf]

Originally Posted by nitido357

<-----thank you! you are right...my comment attempts to extrapolate what you referred to as "what you know from Texas to the entire US/other regions of the Country"..now let's see, isn't that kinda of what you did in your original post by saying that:

I apologize for expecting you to read, but just in case you glossed over it, in my original post I said:

I would speculate the use of "Spanish" in the above quote was appropriate at the time/in the place that it was originally written. I'm from the northeast and prior to going to college (1999/200) "Spanish" was commonly used as a descriptor by both Latinos and non Latinos.

Now if you were unclear of the time and place that MSU was founded and their history written you could have a) asked or b) looked it up yourself.

FYI: Mu Sigma Upsilon was founded at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) in 1981.

Originally Posted by nitido357

Look, I think in the end we both can probably agree on lots of things. But my main issue with your original post is that while there were many folks who used spanish as a descriptor for themselves and allowed non-hispanics to do so as well (be it for whatever motives) the larger majority knew that there was something better (albeit, mostly innacurate) to describe themselves.

And again your still missing a crucial point, you, nor anyone else can determine what is "better" for an individual or group to self identify as. Great, a majority of people NOW use Latino, that by all means does not mean Latino is better or worse than another term nor should it be forced on those that don't wish to use it simply because you think so and/or the majority of people use it.

Originally Posted by nitido357

Anecdotal experiences such as "carlito and juan jose del monte in my 2000 student school called themselves spanish," are welcome, but should not be accepted as proof of a trend in the use of ethnic qualifier. That's why we pay people with tittles to spit out numbers, HISTORY books and studies.

You're exactly right, so do the reading both history as well as other literature forms and get back to me about what the common terminology for "latinos" in the northeast was in the 1970s and 1980s.

Originally Posted by nitido357

Let's also remember that this hodge podge of opinions is only relevant in the grand U.S of A. Out in LATIN-america, this spanish nomenclature thing is a non-issue. (as in Español means Spanish language or Spaniard and we just don't do that yo..lol) Hence my level of disbelief that with the constant inflow of hispanic immigrants through this nation, there would be an acceptance of this term.

Last I checked we were talking about usage in the United States, particularly in the northeast of the United States, so what "Juan Jose del Monte" in Caracas calls himself while in Caracas is irrelevant.

Originally Posted by nitido357

I tried to understand you better by finding out where you grew up (not that I care about where your hood was or want to steal your identity) but perhaps just dropping something like "I grew up in the Craddle of America" would have given me a clue and more insight on your opinion.

I believe I've said multiple times that I grew up in the northeast. As did tld221 when she related a similar experience, and brownsugar brought her experience growing up in the midwest. Reading is oh so fundamental.

Originally Posted by nitido357

Never said that you were incorrect. Is being "right" a default setting? and is the purpose of an exchange of opinions/ideas to prove the other "wrong"?

No, you just tried to assert that a statement I made from my personal experience was inaccurate.