What's the Difference Between Hispanic, Latino, and Latinx?

of Hispanic Americans to our country and culture. But it's also a time when some people in the media stumble over the differences between the terms Hispanic, Latino, and newer gender neutral terms like latin X sometimes pronounced latin X. The confusion is real because the dictionary definitions of Hispanic and Latino don't always jibe with the way that the terms are understood and used in the real world. Let's start with the main difference between the official definitions of

Hispanic and Latino. The term Hispanic was traditionally used by the U s. Census Bureau to cover anyone from his Spanish speaking country or their descendants. By that definition, you'd be considered Hispanic if you or your ancestors are from one of more than twenty primarily Spanish speaking countries around the world. That list includes Spain and countries in Latin America, which consists of South and Central America, plus some islands

in the Caribbean. The term Latino, on the other hand, traditionally referred to people from Latin America, which includes people from non primarily Spanish speaking countries. So by these definitions, someone from Brazil whose main language is Portuguese or from Surinam whose main language is Dutch would be considered Latino, but not Hispanic. However, both of those terms are loaded

with their own history and politics. The U S Census officially began using the word Hispanic in nineteen eighty as an umbrella term for Americans with origins in Spanish speaking countries, but not everybody was comfortable with that term. We spoke with Rolando Romero, who's the chair of the Department of Latino a slash Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaigne. Romero was born in Mexico and immigrated

to the United States at thirteen years old. For him and many others, the word Hispanic is too tied to Spain and doesn't reflect the lived experience of so called Hispanic communities in America, many of which have ties to Latin America rather than Spain. Romero prefers Latino, but believes it should only be used to describe Latin Americans in the United States, not people living in Latin American countries, and even then, he thinks that the word Latino falls

short of describing most applicable people's self identity. He says that if you ask a Latin American person about their background, most won't say I'm Latino. They'll say I'm Mexican American, I'm Puerto Rican, I'm Cuban. Romero said, if you go to the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago, you'll see Cuban food, you'll see Colombian food, you'll see Salveldoran food, but you'll

never see Latino food. Latino has become the umbrella term in the United States to refer to all those groups, but it's hardly ever used in real life, and Romero's impression is backed by survey data from the Pew Research Center, which found in the half of all Hispanic and Latino

Americans had no particular preference for either term. When asked how they would describe themselves, said that they would use an origin term like Mexican or Dominican, simply said American, and only used an umbrella term like Hispanic or Latino. When describing himself, Romero uses Chicano, which is a term for Mexican Americans that arose during the Civil Rights Movement and still carries a note of pride and political defiance. We also spoke with historian Paul Ortiz, professor at the

University of Florida. He explained, back in the day, in the fifties or earlier, generally the term Chicano was actually a term of derision. If you walked up to me and called me that term, there could be in trouble. It becomes a term of pride with the rise of the farm workers movement, the Mexican student movement in California and Washington, and so people began using that term Takano as a term of pride, as a term of self respect. Ortiz was born in nineteen sixty four and raised in

California and Washington State. He said, where I grew up, Hispanic was not very popular. My elders would say Hispanic is something that the government tries to call us. That's not who we are. It's a census term. It's an official term that the government has for people like us. But he also said that those attitudes vary in different communities around the country, and here is where I must impress upon you that if there's any question at all in your mind, it's always best to ask an individual

how they would prefer to be identified. This is also where the term latin X or latin X comes in. This term was born of the l g B t Q plus movement and of a desire to create a more inclusive term outside of the gender binary Latino being masculine or Latina being feminine. Romero worries that it's impossible to read the Spanish language of gendered words, though, and

that latin X is confusing two native Spanish speakers. However, Maria are Charonne del Rio, counseling professor at Brooklyn College, disagrees, seeing the new word as a way of reaching out to people who haven't always been embraced by Latin American immigrant communities. She told NBC News. By using latin X, nobody is telling you how to identify. It's up to you if you want to be latin X, Latino or something else. It's really a way to be inclusive for

people who are traditionally marginalized. That millisecond of politeness and recognition towards someone who is gender queer, tells them that you see them, that you're an ally. Ortiz published a book called An African American and Latin X History of the United States. In he said, the title was really

picked by my students. At one point, I was going to use the term Latina, but they said, you know, professor Ortiz, we would really prefer you use the term latin X. We know among your generation it's still not too popular, but the world is changing. The cool thing is they're not using the term as just a term of self definition. They're using the term to try to create bridges of understanding between say Mexican students, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians.

It's kind of a bridge building term. Indeed, some people seem to be using the term latin X to refer to both Hispanic and Latin American people. The word latine has also been put forth as a gender neutral term that's a little easier to pronounce. Language is fluid, and according to an August twenty survey by the Pew Research Center, the term latin X has a long way before it

catches on. The survey found that only about a quarter of Hispanic Americans have even heard of the term Latin X, and only about three percent use it, with those who are using the term tending to be younger, born in the United States and predominantly English speaking. Today's episode was written by Dave Rus and John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Grain Stuff

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