# \[Is the term\] Mulatto \[considered offensive?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745 "2008-07-16T21:03:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/41 "2008-07-18T13:29:28Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] I can read Wikipedia also. This is not an answer. [/QUOTE] Let’s not do this, okay? \*\*Gfactor \*\* General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/42 "2008-07-18T20:30:42Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] Let’s not do this, okay? \*\*Gfactor \*\* General Questions Moderator [/QUOTE] What was so wrong with my response? I am sick of people essentially quoting out of wikipedia as if it is some useful piece of info. Everyone posting has internet access and I am sure many people check wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/43 "2008-07-18T20:40:30Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] What was so wrong with my response? I am sick of people essentially quoting out of wikipedia as if it is some useful piece of info. Everyone posting has internet access and I am sure many people check wikipedia. [/QUOTE] ?Wikipedia, despite all it’s faults, is pretty useful. It gives a good, usually well-informed amount of information. Assuming it hasn’t been vandalized just before you got there. 🙂 The serious people who submit info there are good sources. Not all perfect, but it’s a great starting point. If I misunderstood your point, please amplify. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/44 "2008-07-18T20:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] In a history course a few years back a young African American classmate got a bit miffed by the instructor’s use of the word mulatto to describe Crispus Attucks. Admittedly I don’t hear the term mulatto used outside of history texts so I haven’t had much of an opportunity to see whether or not most people consider mulatto to be rude. I would certainly never describe a living person as being mulatto. [/QUOTE] Twenty years ago a friend/fellow student expressed outrage at the term and so yeah, I would never use it either. Everyone may not be offended, but I would pick an alternate that is much less likely to offend, if there was a reason to mention such a thing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/45 "2008-07-18T21:56:11Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] No it is not. [/QUOTE] If you already knew the answer, why did you bother creating this thread? ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/46 "2008-07-18T22:49:35Z")
I asked a friend of our this question once. She’s the daughter of a white women and a black man, and she self identifies as black and looks it. She has a daughter, who looks very white (I’d describe her looks as “peaches and cream”) by a black man, and a son who looks very black. She answered that “mulatto” is borderline offensive – it doesn’t really offend her, she just thinks its an odd term, but she thinks it would probably offend others of mixed ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/47 "2008-07-18T22:52:44Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] ?Wikipedia, despite all it’s faults, is pretty useful. It gives a good, usually well-informed amount of information. Assuming it hasn’t been vandalized just before you got there. 🙂 The serious people who submit info there are good sources. Not all perfect, but it’s a great starting point. If I misunderstood your point, please amplify. [/QUOTE] My point is about - when people ask a question on this forum I would expect that are not just wanting an answer cut and pasted from Wikipedia. I can look up wikipedia. I agree that it gives usually well-informed amount of information. That is why when I post a question here I want opinions from people here not the wikipedia answer. As for Freudian Slit Quote: Originally Posted by blinkingblinking No it is not. If you already knew the answer, why did you bother creating this thread? I never said that I knew the answer. I said that giving the etymology of a word does not show whether in 2008 that word is now a slur or offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/48 "2008-07-18T23:19:01Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] That is why when I post a question here I want opinions from people here not the wikipedia answer. [/QUOTE] Threads seeking opinions go in In My Humble Opinion. I’ll move this thread from General Questions to IMHO. I also edited your thread title to make it more descriptive. **Gfactor** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![blinkingblinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/49 "2008-07-20T21:06:17Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] Threads seeking opinions go in In My Humble Opinion. I’ll move this thread from General Questions to IMHO. I also edited your thread title to make it more descriptive. **Gfactor** General Questions Moderator [/QUOTE] Is there some reason why this thread is over-moderated? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/50 "2008-07-20T21:57:19Z")
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking] Is there some reason why this thread is over-moderated? [/QUOTE] Possibly, because you wanted opinions and started the thread in General Questions. ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745/51 "2008-07-21T07:37:51Z")
For what it’s worth, the term mulato/mulata isn’t considered offensive in Latin America. My ex-gf who is biracial (Black/White) actually liked the Spanish term, since it gave her a specific group to identify with. Biracial or mixed could mean virtually anything. The English term ‘mulatto’ she doesn’t dislike but kind of ambivalent towards, since she never encountered anyone using the term. When asked, she says she’s mixed. I think if it lacked the semi-offensive/archaic connotation it would be a useful term, since mixed or biracial is still pretty ambiguous. But that’s not for me to decide, so meh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-mulatto-considered-offensive/456745.md?page=2)