# Do Other Countries Have Hyphenated People? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2013, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606 "2013-05-06T12:07:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/1 "2013-05-06T12:07:42Z")
Ok, we have African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian/Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc- American. There’s also French-Canadian. Do other countries do this? Is there such a thing as a Welsh-English/British or a Spanish-German, etc? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/2 "2013-05-06T12:50:03Z")
Asian-Australian and African-Australian are pretty common terms here in Australia. And other variations on that theme, like Greek-Australian or Italian-etc. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/3 "2013-05-06T13:03:03Z")
Not done in France. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/4 "2013-05-06T13:14:26Z")
The UK tends to use similar formations but without the hyphen. Hence, “black British”\*, “British Indian” and the like. However, if you were talking about a black person, you wouldn’t specify “black British”; you’d just say black, and only specify if they were from somewhere else (say, a first generation Nigerian immigrant.) \*This is subdivided into Caribbean, African and “other”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/5 "2013-05-06T13:22:14Z")
It’s not done in Israel. Colloquially, people are simply referred to by the name of the country they, or their ancestors, came from - Russian immigrants are called “Russians”, American immigrants are called “Americans”, and so on (except for immigrants from Germany, who are called “Yekkim”. Jews are never referred to as “Germans”). More formally, people are referred to as _yotzei_-[country], a word that means, basically, “those who have exited from”; or _olei_-[country], a word that means “those who have ascended from”. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/6 "2013-05-06T13:40:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s not done in Israel. Colloquially, people are simply referred to by the name of the country they, or their ancestors, came from - Russian immigrants are called “Russians”, American immigrants are called “Americans”, and so on (except for immigrants from Germany, who are called “Yekkim”. Jews are never referred to as “Germans”). More formally, people are referred to as _yotzei_-[country], a word that means, basically, “those who have exited from”; or _olei_-[country], a word that means “those who have ascended from”. What about Arabs with Israeli citizenship? In the US news we hear them called Israeli Arabs. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/7 "2013-05-06T13:46:02Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > What about Arabs with Israeli citizenship? In the US news we hear them called Israeli Arabs. That’s how they’re called in Hebrew, too. Besides them, citizens of the Druze faith are referred to as “Druze”, and never as Arabs. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/8 "2013-05-06T14:36:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s not done in Israel. Colloquially, people are simply referred to by the name of the country they, or their ancestors, came from - Russian immigrants are called “Russians”, American immigrants are called “Americans”, and so on (except for immigrants from Germany, who are called “Yekkim”. Jews are never referred to as “Germans”). More formally, people are referred to as _yotzei_-[country], a word that means, basically, “those who have exited from”; or _olei_-[country], a word that means “those who have ascended from”. Is the Yekkim thing a Holocaust holdover or just an accident of history? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/9 "2013-05-06T14:45:38Z")
It’s because of the Holocaust, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/10 "2013-05-06T14:56:14Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > … (except for immigrants from Germany, who are called “Yekkim”. Jews are never referred to as “Germans”). … That’s pretty common among Orthodox Jews in the US, but I’ve always thought it to be a humorous/affectionate nickname, sort of how the Teeming Millions here refer to Americans as “Merkins”. Are you saying that “Yekkim” is common even among non-religious Israelis? Wow! And if it is, would it go so far as to appear even on official documents, such as a census form? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/11 "2013-05-06T15:30:19Z")
No hyphenations here in the Cayman Islands. They may be considered offensive when incorrectly applied by well meaning (mostly American) persons who used the hyphenation as a racial description. My colleagues are Jamaican, St Lucian, Bajan, etc… They will tell you themselves that they are most definitely not African-American, Afro-Caribbean, or any other hyphenated term. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/12 "2013-05-06T15:35:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The UK tends to use similar formations but without the hyphen. Hence, “black British”\*, “British Indian” and the like. However, if you were talking about a black person, you wouldn’t specify “black British”; you’d just say black, and only specify if they were from somewhere else (say, a first generation Nigerian immigrant.) > > \*This is subdivided into Caribbean, African and “other”. Spanish tends not to use hyphens, so you would tend to see just a combination of the two nationalities. With regard to blacks, here in Panama there are two major distinct ethnic groups, referred to as _afrocoloniales_, descended from slaves that were brought to Panama during colonial times, and _afroantillanos_, descended from mostly English-speaking West Indians who came in starting in the late 1800s to work on banana plantations and on the Panama Canal. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/13 "2013-05-06T16:55:52Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > …except for immigrants from Germany, who are called “Yekkim”. Jews are never referred to as “Germans”. What is the literal translation/meaning of “Yekkim”? I remember enough Hebrew to know it’s a plural, but I’m curious what it means. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/14 "2013-05-06T17:10:32Z")
I’d like to point out that while French-Canadian is used, Quebecois is as well. There is a distinction drawn: There are French communities outside of Quebec. I would make that distinction when speaking of them. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/15 "2013-05-06T17:51:54Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > That’s pretty common among Orthodox Jews in the US, but I’ve always thought it to be a humorous/affectionate nickname, sort of how the Teeming Millions here refer to Americans as “Merkins”. Are you saying that “Yekkim” is common even among non-religious Israelis? Wow! And if it is, would it go so far as to appear even on official documents, such as a census form? It’s the common term among all Jews here - although, as noted, it’s still the colloquial. Forms would probably just say something like “Parents’ Country of Birth”. Either way, the term “German Jew” (_Yehudi Germani_) is never used. > [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > What is the literal translation/meaning of “Yekkim”? I remember enough Hebrew to know it’s a plural, but I’m curious what it means. [Yekke.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekke) ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/16 "2013-05-06T17:59:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s the common term among all Jews here - although, as noted, it’s still the colloquial. Forms would probably just say something like “Parents’ Country of Birth”. > > Either way, the term “German Jew” (_Yehudi Germani_) is never used. > > [Yekke.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekke) I find this utterly fascinating. Do you think that, as living memory of The Holocaust recedes, it will change? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/17 "2013-05-07T06:00:54Z")
Not with hyphens and not with the same meaning as in the US, for Spain. As **Colibri** pointed out, Spanish just doesn’t use a lot of hyphens. If we say that someone is, for example, _hispanodanesa_, it means they have both Spanish and Danish citizenship; the two get combined in whichever order sounds better. I had a college classmate who would have been a Vietnamese-Spaniard in American terms: in Spanish terms, he was _español de padres vietnamitas_, “a Spaniard whose parents were Vietnamese”. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/18 "2013-05-07T06:48:27Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Asian-Australian and African-Australian are pretty common terms here in Australia. And other variations on that theme, like Greek-Australian or Italian-etc. I’d actually argue that they aren’t all that common. Very few people I know would identify themselves that way, they would just tend to use their ancestry as a descriptor. I don’t recall the term Lebanese Australians being used in the media at the time of the Cronulla riot, it was all about “People of Lebanese descent” or just Lebanese Youths. I would have said we generally consider people to be Australian if they live here and the ancestry may be an identifier, no need to add the “Australian” on the end. ---
**Author:** ![Remember\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Remember\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remember_me)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/19 "2013-05-07T07:58:14Z")
In German we don’t use too many hypens either. Instead we make excessive use of compound words which serve the same purpose. We use Russlanddeutsche, who are a German minority in Russia, many of whom have (re-)emigrated to Germany, meanwhile. A Frankokanadier is a french Canadian. An Afroamerikaner is an African-American. Emigrants from other countries are usually referred to as their (former) fellow countryman, e.g. Türke (Turk). If you want to emphasize that they now live in Germany you might just use e.g. türkischer Einwanderer (Turkish emigrant). After naturalization - which is difficult to achieve as far as I know - they might be identified by having turkish roots, or more colloquially Deutschtürke (Germanturk). The latter usage is equivalent to English hyphenation but is not considered PC. The example for turkish people can be adapted for people from any other country or continent. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2013, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606/20 "2013-05-07T08:01:09Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Asian-Australian and African-Australian are pretty common terms here in Australia. And other variations on that theme, like Greek-Australian or Italian-etc. I disagree. I can’t remember hearing that. I’m sure I have at one point, but I honestly can’t recall any occasion. It’s rare that it ever comes up, though when it does I agree with stui in that I hear “of Lebanese descent” or “of Middle Eastern appearance” or “of Asian extraction”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-countries-have-hyphenated-people/657606.md?page=2)