Re: On imprecise language, w/Apologies to G. Orwell

Thu, 17 Jul 1997 23:36:00 -0400
Stephen Homick (shomick@sover.net)

El 16 Jul 97 a las 16:21, wwagar@binghamton.edu
<wwagar@binghamton.edu> dixit:

> "Latino" is precise in one sense. It refers and Los Latinos
> refers to persons of the male gender. Since half of all Latin folk
> are Latinas, they should not be cut out of the picture. Here we are
> required to speak of "Latino/a" people. This is not a pretty word,
> but one sees its merits.

Nice try but no cohiba (the Havana stogie that Yankee
aficionados risk life & limb to get), Warren.

In Spanish and other romance tongues, absent any qualifying
adjective, a masculine noun, be it singular or plural, can refer to a
group of males and females generally. Frankly, it makes not a whit
of sense to use "Latino/a" as a gentile noun or adjective.

El 17 Jul 97 a las 14:15, Bruce R. McFarling
<ecbm@cc.newcastle.edu.au> dixit:

> Como "Hispanico", but not like "Hispanic. Y que pasa con "La
> Puebla"??

"Hispanic" is merely the Englished version of the adjective
"hisp=E1nico", and "La Puebla" simply means a town. "El pueblo
hisp=E1nico, on the other hand, may be translated as "the Spanish
people", male as well as female, and thereby underscores my previous
point.

El 16 Jul 97 a las 16:54, Andrew Wayne Austin
<aaustin@utkux.utcc.utk.edu> dixit:

> I can see the point that the term "global apartheid" has the
> potential to move the focus a bit off of class. However, apartheid
> is also an economic relation. Racism is used as a mechanism to
> secure cheap labor pools and control over the working class. If we
> can, at the same time we use this term, communicate the material
> basis for the continued existence of racism (an ideology used to
> legitimate the "North-South" relation) we might then have both a
> good sound bite and a mechanism to reveal the more brutal aspects of
> exploitation.

If nothing else, Andrew certainly qualifies as a prime
contender to be the Jerry Della Femina of the Academy. Whether it's
got more sound than bite is open to dispute; but there's no denying
that "global apartheid" is a trend-surfer's dream-come-true! Ol'
G.O. must be convulsing uncontrollably in his grave right now.

Before leaving this incandescent issue, I thought I'd throw out a
little trivia to pursue: Did the author of the little quip below
hail from the frigid, hoary monochomatic north or from the warm,
fuzzy polychromatic south?

"That we shall ever cherish our identity of origin,
and race, as preferable, in our estimation, to any
other people."


Desde las Monta=F1as Verdes, saludos virtuales de
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