# Have you heard the term "Latinx"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 7, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750 "2018-05-07T13:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/21 "2018-05-07T16:22:36Z")
I have heard the term quite frequently in some quarters after the Pulse Bombing attack in Orlando. What appears really strange to me is that those folks list Latinx in with LGBT folks, which makes me wonder if it’s a term that was created mostly for Transgendered or gender dysphoric Latinos/Latinas? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/22 "2018-05-07T16:34:01Z")
The first and only time I heard it (apart from this thread) was in a role playing game podcast that was painfully aware that it was performed by 4 straight white guys, and so has bent over backwards to be as PC as possible. The context was that they didn’t want to make a werewolf character that one of them was playing latinix because it might advance a stereotype of latinix’s as violent. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/23 "2018-05-07T17:25:57Z")
It also makes me wonder when we’ll see adds for exotic dancers as being LatinXXX. 😉 I get that languages change, and sometimes it can be a social movement that does the changing (Mrs. and Miss -\> Ms.), but this seems overly forced, at least for now. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/24 "2018-05-07T17:30:22Z")
In a tiny private protest, whenever I see it, I pronounce it “laTINKS” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/25 "2018-05-07T17:37:20Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Grew up in a heavily Hispanic area of eastern Washington State. I have never heard this term or even know how it’s pronounced. Over the years we’ve gone from the “approved” term be Mexican=\>Chicano=\>Hispanic=\>Latino/a. Guess what term we commonly call each other…Mexican. Even the Salvadorans? ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/26 "2018-05-07T19:35:45Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Even the Salvadorans? Well my home area’s Hispanic population is nearly 90% Mexican descent. Unless we’re specifically mentioning non-Mexican Hispanics, they’re usually lumped in the Mexican group. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/27 "2018-05-07T22:35:56Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > In a tiny private protest, whenever I see it, I pronounce it “laTINKS” 🙂 It does seem odd to have no vowel in the last syllable. When I saw “Latinx” in the thread title, my first guess was some new software, like Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/28 "2018-05-07T23:45:57Z")
I’ve seen it a few times here in Southern Ontario, but I don’t remember where. It may have been in US-based media. Re: “Hispanic” vs. “Latino/a/x/@/whatever”… I thought that, as **Inner Stickler** mentioned, Hispanic related to Spanish-speaking, and Latino/a was related to Latin American heritage. The real question from a Canadian standpoint is, does “Latin American” include everyone in the Americas whose heritage relates to one of the Latin-descended languages? Customary usage would seem to say “no”; otherwise Quebec would be part of Latin America… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/29 "2018-05-08T00:52:46Z")
As a Hispanic man this is the first time i hear of it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/30 "2018-05-08T01:27:34Z")
I’ve been seeing it more and more lately. Not sure where I first came across it, but it was relatively recently, like in the last year or so. I’m not sure I’ve heard it spoken, though, just written. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/31 "2018-05-08T01:47:53Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Depends somewhat where you are. Hispanic isn’t a popular term in some areas, but it has been and still is the general “correct” (as in it’s what people default to) term in much of New Mexico, probably even more so from Santa Fe to further north. Especially with the long history of Spanish settlement and rule in New Mexico and it being perfectly possible to be both white and Hispanic. (I had classmates who could build a family tree in New Mexico to well before the Mexican Revolution.) I’m sure Latino gets some use, but I’ve almost never seen Chicano used. I’d argue that’s more of a Texas/California thing and probably depends heavily on how much one identifies as Mexican. > > A quick look at a Wikipedia article on “Hispanos in New Mexico” seems to me to be rather biased in tone. Chicano, to me, has a California /Cesar Chavez connotation; A second generation Mexican, typically, rarely-if ever- a Mexican. As a Texan, I have never heard anyone in my generation (“gen x”) use it. Latino, back then, always had an east coast feel to it. It seemed to imply more Puerto Rican, etc. We always used Hispanic, but that has a lot to do with being minutes away from New Mexico. As for Latinx, I’ve only seen it used by American millennials. It makes no sense to me linguistically. What about pronouns? And why on earth is it “La-teen-ex” why not “La-tin-equis”? One of my colleagues uses it, and that’s great for her. I will not use it. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/32 "2018-05-08T01:58:26Z")
> [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](#): > > Chicano, to me, has a California /Cesar Chavez connotation; A second generation Mexican, typically, rarely-if ever- a Mexican. As a Texan, I have never heard anyone in my generation (“gen x”) use it. Latino, back then, always had an east coast feel to it. It seemed to imply more Puerto Rican, etc. We always used Hispanic, but that has a lot to do with being minutes away from New Mexico. > > As for Latinx, I’ve only seen it used by American millennials. It makes no sense to me linguistically. What about pronouns? And why on earth is it “La-teen-ex” why not “La-tin-equis”? One of my colleagues uses it, and that’s great for her. I will not use it. Only minutes away? I’d assume you’re in or near El Paso with that comment, and El Paso is–in my opinion–far more like New Mexico than the rest of Texas due to the history involved. The more I think about it, I’d agree that Chicano seems more Californian than anything else, and Latino is what the Easterners use instead of Hispanic. I’m sure there are people in New Mexico who prefer Latino (and I’d guess that they’d probably generally be people who recently moved to New Mexico), but I honestly never hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/33 "2018-05-08T02:09:47Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Only minutes away? I’d assume you’re in or near El Paso with that comment, and El Paso is–in my opinion–far more like New Mexico than the rest of Texas due to the history involved. The more I think about it, I’d agree that Chicano seems more Californian than anything else, and Latino is what the Easterners use instead of Hispanic. I’m sure there are people in New Mexico who prefer Latino (and I’d guess that they’d probably generally be people who recently moved to New Mexico), but I honestly never hear it. Grew up in El Paso. Left in 90 and only have returned a handful of times. I still consider it my homeland and always will. El Paso is far more New Mexican than Texan… unless you mean West Texan (and no, Lubbock, I don’t consideee you West Texas). Moving to DFW was an eye opener for me. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/34 "2018-05-08T03:53:10Z")
I’m happy to respect how people wish to describe themselves. However, I have a (very very white) relative who always works super hard to broadcast to the world how incredibly progressive and forward-thinking she is, and she has made a point of working this term into casual conversation as much as humanly possible. My personal favorites were when she mentioned a “Latinx abuela” and going to the Latinx aisle of the grocery store. Not sure the tortillas and refried beans are all that concerned about their gender identity. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/35 "2018-05-08T04:08:15Z")
Why is it called Latin America anyway? Isn’t Latin the language of the ancient Roman Empire? I should look that up. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/36 "2018-05-08T04:11:32Z")
I’m Mexican and work with Hispanics (both American-born and natives) daily and have only read it online. It feels like that weird thing where somebody says “I loved the African-American actor in the film,along with his white co-lead” where the language just seems completely unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/37 "2018-05-08T04:45:48Z")
If I’m speaking of a specific person, I’ll use the proper vowel at the end, but if I’m speaking of a general group I’ll use Latinx by preference since I’m working on using non-gendered language whenever possible. Language shapes perception and I’m preferring to perceive things as non-gendered unless gender happens to be an salient defining characteristic. Which, the more I un-gender my speech and thought habits, turns out to be amazingly seldom. It’s interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/38 "2018-05-08T04:48:49Z")
Read/seen it occasionally. Never in my life heard anyone say it out loud. The uncertain pronunciation of it suggests to me that it is not going to catch on as a mainstream phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/39 "2018-05-08T07:39:25Z")
I’ve never heard it, but every time I see this thread, I think it’s about Asterix, Obelix and Getafix. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750/40 "2018-05-08T07:51:31Z")
I’ve read it but never heard it. Until now I thought it was pronounced like it was as type of big cat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-the-term-latinx/813750.md?page=3)