Hispanic or Latino?

My intention with this blog is to start out slow and build as we go. After some period of time (whenever that is), I'm hoping what we'll have is a body of work that does justice to the topic as a whole.

Never one to shy away from a question, no matter how obvious it may be to others... let's get to this one right off the bat. Is it Hispanic or Latino? Here's how Wikipedia lays it out:

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HISPANIC

As used in the United States, Hispanic is one of several terms of ethnicity employed to categorize any person, of any racial background, of any country and of any religion who has at least one ancestor from the people of Spain or Spanish-speaking Latin America, whether or not the person has Spanish ancestry. The term was first adopted in the United States by the administration of Richard Nixon and has since been used as a broad form of classification in the U.S. census, in local and federal employment, and numerous business market researches.

The usage of Hispanic as an ethnic indicator in the United States is believed to have come into mainstream prominence following its inclusion in a question in the 1980 U.S. Census, which asked people to voluntarily identify if they were of "Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent".

Often the term "Hispanic" is used synonymously with the word "Latino", and frequently with "Latin" as well. Even though the terms may sometimes overlap in meaning, they are not completely synonymous.

"Hispanic" specifically refers to Spain, and to the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, as cultural and demographic extensions of Spain. It should be further noted that in a U.S. context, a Hispanic population consists of the people of Spain and everyone with origins in any of Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, regardless of ancestry of the latter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic

LATINO

Latinos, meanwhile, is a contraction of "Latinoamericanos", and refers only to those from Spanish or Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, regardless of ancestry in all contexts.

The two terms "Hispanic" and "Latino" are not strictly interchangeable. The latter term applies to any Person with origins in any Latin American country, including Brazilian Americans, although as already noted, not all Brazilian Americans accept the designation. "Hispanic", however, applies to Americans with origins in the Latin American countries other than Brazil; i.e., it only applies to Americans with origins in Hispanic America - the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. The Hispanic American countries are cultural descendants of Spain; Brazil is a cultural descendant of Portugal. Generally speaking, when in doubt, "Latino" is the term to go with in reference to anyone with Latin American origin, as it is usually understood to apply to both Hispanics and Brazilian Americans. However, definitions may vary and in colloquial speech this distinction is often not made. In casual conversation, speakers may also be imprecise with their usage of the terms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino

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Okay, that's a lot of information for someone who didn't pay attention in History and Social Studies in school. But what I think I'm getting out of it is, that when you aren't sure, Latino is the proper term for addressing someone's heritage. (I'm counting on others to tell me if I'm right or wrong here.)

Does this question and answer solve world hunger or the issues facing the Lafayette community today? No. What it DOES do is lay groundwork. It says I'm interested in addressing the Latino community in Lafayette in a way that makes them comfortable and makes me comfortable because now I've gained some small understanding. And that's worthwhile.

It's natural to be afraid to make a mistake when addressing someone. Some of the topics I'll discuss here will be about the "little things", like this. Thanks for reading me. Now click that comments link and tell me what you think.