Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl
In all seriousness - what is the difference between the two? I've never understood if it's just preference, if it's a geographical issue, or what. We don't have a huge population of {whatever I should say} in these parts.
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Not disagreeing with what has been said, I would add that the connotation of each word varies from region to region. In some parts, latino is derogatory and people prefer to be called Hispanics, while in others, the contrary is the rule. The emotions behind each word would depend on the personal experiences of each person.
Going to the roots of each word, Hispanic would only be used for people coming from Spanish-speaking America, while Brazilians are also considered Latinos by many.
In Spanish, there are three names used to conglomerate the countries in Central, South and Caribbean America:
1. Hispanoamérica (Spanish America) - self explanatory
2. Ibero-América (used to describe Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking America)
3. Latino América (although not the most common use, it is used sometimes to include French-speaking America, i.e. Haiti, French Guyana, but not Canada).
EDIT: I am all three: hispanoamericano, iberoamericano and latinoamericano. What I am not is a SPIC.