On Thu, 17 Jul 1997, Stephen Homick wrote:
> 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.
>
Of course you're right, and previously this was also the case in
English. The point is that studies of persons and cultures of Hispanic
provenance that take place in the United States are under pressure to
conform to current English usage, even when using the Spanish language.
We have plenty of Spanish-speaking students and professors at Binghamton,
and it is some of them, not I, who insist on Latino/a.
Warren
W. Warren Wagar
Department of History
Binghamton University