# What's more respectful-- Latino or Hispanic? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2007, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815 "2007-01-13T06:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [March 2, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815/61 "2016-03-02T20:41:39Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > For Hispanics outside the US it’s about speaking Spanish OR about speaking Spanish-or-Portuguese (the term _hispanidad_ refers to Hispania, the Iberian Peninsula, not to Spain, but the term hispano can be constructed as being derived from _hispanidad_ or a shortening of _hispanohablante_, Spanish-speaker), and for the US it’s not about “a minority group living in the US”, since you apply it also to people living outside the US. No, not really. It would be odd for an American to call a Mexican, living and residing in Mexico, a “Hispanic”. He’s a Mexican. From an American-English standpoint, it’s about people in the US, not outside the US. We would not call blacks living in Brazil African-Americans. That’s also a term that, in American English, refers to people living in the US. That is my personal experience. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815/62 "2016-03-02T21:03:58Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No, not really. It would be odd for an American to call a Mexican, living and residing in Mexico, a “Hispanic”. He’s a Mexican. From an American-English standpoint, it’s about people in the US, not outside the US. We would not call blacks living in Brazil African-Americans. That’s also a term that, in American English, refers to people living in the US. That is my personal experience. YMMV. I don’t think it’s that simple. I’d use “Hispanic” to describe a person I knew lived in Latin America if I didn’t know that he lived in Mexico specifically. And I’d generally refer to a kid who lived here as “Mexican” if I knew he identified as Mexican-American. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815/63 "2016-03-02T21:39:49Z")
Peruvian also and i wouldn’t be offended by either, i use Latino. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815/64 "2016-03-02T21:41:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > No, not really. It would be odd for an American to call a Mexican, living and residing in Mexico, a “Hispanic”. He’s a Mexican. “Mexican” is a nationality, “Hispanic” is a (broad) ethnicity. Most Mexicans are also Hispanics. No problem here. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > From an American-English standpoint, it’s about people in the US, not outside the US. We would not call blacks living in Brazil African-Americans. That’s also a term that, in American English, refers to people living in the US. Well, that’s true. The “American” part means the USA, not the Americas. “Afro-Brazilian” would be the equivalent English term for Brazilians of (some recent) African ancestry. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815/65 "2016-03-03T11:42:57Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > I don’t think it’s that simple. I’d use “Hispanic” to describe a person I knew lived in Latin America if I didn’t know that he lived in Mexico specifically. And I’d generally refer to a kid who lived here as “Mexican” if I knew he identified as Mexican-American. Which is also my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815/66 "2016-03-03T14:06:32Z")
My parents are from The Canary Islands. I think of myself as Canarian, Spanish, and _hispanohablante_. I would neither be surprised nor offended if an American (or a non-American for that matter) referred to me as “Hispanic” or “Latino,” but I wouldn’t use either term for self-designation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-more-respectful-latino-or-hispanic/387815.md?page=3)