# "African-American" in other countries **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051 "2002-12-20T16:55:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/21 "2002-12-21T00:02:15Z")
[hijack] I have several Samoan & Tongan friends, most of them born (or at least raised) in the USA. They don’t mind when I use the term _Poly_, short for polynesian. Is that PC in NZ? How about Oz? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/22 "2002-12-21T01:18:35Z")
In the US, the term African-American is a device mainly used in the media. Sometimes I use it when talking specifically about the descendants of American slavery (to distinguish that group from other people who are called black). But I’ve never met one black person in my life who objects to being called black. The only people who I hear or see using the African-American designation are usually white people, and I usually assume they use it because they think there is something wrong with calling someone black. But I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![theone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ad7895/32.png) [@theone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/23 "2002-12-21T01:23:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Carnage \* > \*\*Ok, with the advent of the PC “African-American” phrase taking the place of the word “black” or any other number of unflattering terms to describe the race, I’m wondering do blacks in other countries feel the need to have a hyphenated term to describe the race? If so, what phrase is used. Like “African-Anglicans” or “African-Russians”? Or is this totally an American thing? \*\* why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/24 "2002-12-21T01:51:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by theone \* > \*\*why do you ask? \*\* Because he doesn’t know and is curious? :rolleyes: * * * I had a good friend when I was younger and he didn’t like the term “Afican American”. He always said, “I’m not African or American. I’m Canadian who happens to be black.” (He wasn’t offended by the term though.) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/25 "2002-12-21T04:24:55Z")
I do wonder how Pacific Island, or Jamaican people in America are termed. The default assumption appears to be that if you have dark skin, you’re from African heritage, so what happens when that actually isn’t so? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/26 "2002-12-21T04:30:20Z")
Well Jamician people do have an African heritage (this heritage still plays a major part in their culture), The common term in the UK when describing ethnicity is ‘Afro-caribbean’ as the fast majority of ‘Black’ British people are second or third generation immigrants from the caribbean islands. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/27 "2002-12-21T04:52:51Z")
A black American who was born in Jamaica (or whose ancestors were born there) would be called black or African-American, since their ultimate ancestry would be from Africa, but they could also be called Jamaican. An American whose ancestors came from some Pacific island would usually be called Samoan or Hawaiian or whatever particular island they came from, or they could be called a Pacific Islander. They wouldn’t be called black. Even an American of Australian aboriginal descent wouldn’t be called black by anyone who knew where his ancestors came from. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/28 "2002-12-21T08:07:50Z")
Member of the old school checking in. I remember when “Black is beautiful”. I find it offensive to say “African American”…like they are less American than I am? I do not say I am Italian/Norwegian/English/Welsh Ameican (which I am). I would find it pompous to hear someone say they were “British American” So, my question is, what is wrong with saying my friend is black? He sure as hell isn’t telling his buddies his friend is “Irish American.” ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/29 "2002-12-21T12:03:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jack@ss \* > \*\*[hijack] > I have several Samoan & Tongan friends, most of them born (or at least raised) in the USA. They don’t mind when I use the term _Poly_, short for polynesian. Is that PC in NZ? How about Oz? > > [/hijack] \*\* I’ve heard “Polies” used by my own race, but I haven’t heard my Polynesian friends use it, so I’d say it was borderline here. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/30 "2002-12-21T12:25:51Z")
> [@](#): > > So, my question is, what is wrong with saying my friend is black? Not a thing, unless it makes him _personally_ uncomfortable. As has been pointed out ( in innumerable threads ), the push to use the term African-Americans is not particularly widespread. There is a persistent fallacy that African-American is the new PC term and black is unacceptable - Far as I have been able to determine, it’s simply not true. This whole thing arose a few decades ago in a perhaps misguided attempt to emulate ethnic communities in the old Rust Belt where terms like Polish-American, Irish-American and German-American _were_ common ( I heard such terms all the time growing up - my fathers side of the family referred to themselves as Serbian-American with intense pride ). It was an attempt to establish common ground by essentially putting blacks on the same plane linguistically as other ethnic communities around them. However the people that proposed this fell victim to provincialism - Being from the Rust Belt themselves, they apparently failed to realize that this type of address was rather uncommon in the rest of the country. Also, such terms were beginning to die out a bit, though in that respect hindsight is 20-20. But meanwhile the term became entrenched in the media, was ardently adopted by some and became a little politicized. But really black is not particularly offensive to the vast majority of people, far as I can tell. Of course you should refer to people however the prefer to be addressed as, simply out of politeness. So some might prefer African-American. But most don’t seem to have any such preference - “Black is beautiful” still seems to be an accepted catch phrase :). But I’m just a white boy, so what do I know :D. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051/31 "2002-12-21T13:23:17Z")
I’ve never met anyone (other than my brother in an overly PC phase) object to “black” so that’s what I use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/african-american-in-other-countries/144051.md?page=1)