5 ms·

I corrected a Latino that the proper term was Latinx - and learned that the ideology is def different than the minority :)

akomtu 4y ago
I find it curious that the dems chose to run this renaming experiment on latinos. They could've tried to push "blax" - at least you wouldn't need to break your tongue to pronounce it. My theory is they wanted to see how much they can bend the public opinion, and an awkward word would better test compliance.
- SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
  It's not something that "the dems" made up. It seems to have started as a self-descriptive term for nonbinary Latinos, although the history's not 100% clear. But as the source article describes, there's a large and influential segment of the populace who believes that in order to be inclusive they should use trans-focused language as much as possible. So people started saying "Latinx" for precisely the same reasons as they stopped saying "pregnant women".
- Biganon 4y ago
  The word "black" does not have a gender connotation. "Latino" is a masculine word, the feminine equivalent being "Latina". That's the problem (if you consider that a problem)
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- PhasmaFelis 4y ago
  The term "Latinx" was invented by Latinos. It's also wildly unpopular among many Latinos, because there are hundreds of millions of them and they don't all have the same opinions. On the whole it seems to be a flop. But let's at least credit Latinos as a group with the agency to come up with their own ideas, good or bad, hey?
  - leephillips 4y ago
    Do you have any evidence you can share about who invented “Latinx”? I’ve lived in Central America for a few years now, and the only time I’ve heard this term, or related ones, here, is when someone was mocking it. Of course that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t invented by some Latinos. But I only encounter it used with pride when I’m reading NPR articles in English.
    - PhasmaFelis 4y ago
      Who exactly used it first appears to be lost to history, but the first known published academic appearance seems to have been in the Fall 2004 volume of a bilingual journal called Feministas Unidas. It was used there is passing, without explanation, apparently assuming the readers were already familiar with it. https://people.wku.edu/inma.pertusa/encuentros/FemUn/newsletters/FemUn_Fall2004.pdf https://people.wku.edu/inma.pertusa/encuentros/FemUn/newslet... There are reports of online usage of both "Latinx" and "Latin@" going back to the late '90s. There are other references to academic uses that I haven't been able to track to original sources after a brief search. Mainstream media (in English or Spanish) only appears to have discovered it in the last few years. I do get the impression that a lot of early adoption was from English-speaking Latinos in the US, which might explain the apparent incompatibility with actual Spanish. I don't read Spanish myself, so there's only so far I can pursue this. But it's not a recent invention of clueless white people. "Latine" is a compromise I've seen proposed recently. https://callmelatine.wordpress.com/ https://callmelatine.wordpress.com/
      - leephillips 4y ago
        I really appreciate these details; thank you. On “Latine”: at a recent gathering of friends I mistakenly said «miembre» for “member” instead of «miembro» (I’m still learning Spanish). This led to a certain amount of hilarity and jokes aimed at the progressive gender-neutralizing crowd, that likes to use «e» endings instead of the correct ones. It’s a small extremist minority, and a general butt of jokes here. So «Latine» would be seen as just as ridiculous as «Latinx».
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atomicUpdate 4y ago
Why would you correct someone about what they call themselves? That seems incredibly condescending.

akomtu 4y ago

I find it curious that the dems chose to run this renaming experiment on latinos. They could've tried to push "blax" - at least you wouldn't need to break your tongue to pronounce it. My theory is they wanted to see how much they can bend the public opinion, and an awkward word would better test compliance.

SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
It's not something that "the dems" made up. It seems to have started as a self-descriptive term for nonbinary Latinos, although the history's not 100% clear. But as the source article describes, there's a large and influential segment of the populace who believes that in order to be inclusive they should use trans-focused language as much as possible. So people started saying "Latinx" for precisely the same reasons as they stopped saying "pregnant women".
Biganon 4y ago
The word "black" does not have a gender connotation. "Latino" is a masculine word, the feminine equivalent being "Latina". That's the problem (if you consider that a problem)
- deleted 4y ago
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PhasmaFelis 4y ago
The term "Latinx" was invented by Latinos. It's also wildly unpopular among many Latinos, because there are hundreds of millions of them and they don't all have the same opinions. On the whole it seems to be a flop. But let's at least credit Latinos as a group with the agency to come up with their own ideas, good or bad, hey?
- leephillips 4y ago
  Do you have any evidence you can share about who invented “Latinx”? I’ve lived in Central America for a few years now, and the only time I’ve heard this term, or related ones, here, is when someone was mocking it. Of course that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t invented by some Latinos. But I only encounter it used with pride when I’m reading NPR articles in English.
  - PhasmaFelis 4y ago
    Who exactly used it first appears to be lost to history, but the first known published academic appearance seems to have been in the Fall 2004 volume of a bilingual journal called Feministas Unidas. It was used there is passing, without explanation, apparently assuming the readers were already familiar with it. https://people.wku.edu/inma.pertusa/encuentros/FemUn/newsletters/FemUn_Fall2004.pdf https://people.wku.edu/inma.pertusa/encuentros/FemUn/newslet... There are reports of online usage of both "Latinx" and "Latin@" going back to the late '90s. There are other references to academic uses that I haven't been able to track to original sources after a brief search. Mainstream media (in English or Spanish) only appears to have discovered it in the last few years. I do get the impression that a lot of early adoption was from English-speaking Latinos in the US, which might explain the apparent incompatibility with actual Spanish. I don't read Spanish myself, so there's only so far I can pursue this. But it's not a recent invention of clueless white people. "Latine" is a compromise I've seen proposed recently. https://callmelatine.wordpress.com/ https://callmelatine.wordpress.com/
    - leephillips 4y ago
      I really appreciate these details; thank you. On “Latine”: at a recent gathering of friends I mistakenly said «miembre» for “member” instead of «miembro» (I’m still learning Spanish). This led to a certain amount of hilarity and jokes aimed at the progressive gender-neutralizing crowd, that likes to use «e» endings instead of the correct ones. It’s a small extremist minority, and a general butt of jokes here. So «Latine» would be seen as just as ridiculous as «Latinx».
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atomicUpdate 4y ago

Why would you correct someone about what they call themselves? That seems incredibly condescending.