Language matters

When I saw the headline in The New York Times that promises the answer to “Hispanic, Latino or What?” I was delighted. At last, I thought, I’ll know which word is correct, and when to use it.

Well, not quite. There’s still a lot of disagreement among editors as well as those to whom the terms can be applied. I came away with the sense that “Hispanic” is somewhat safer, but the ideal is to reference the country of origin instead. Oh, and by the way, it’s a really good idea to stop and ask yourself why the reference is necessary in the first place.

If this seems like hair-splitting, reconsider.

The language we use influences what we think. Remember the Ms. battle? “Girl versus woman?” When “Asian” usurped “Oriental?” and “Native American” came into use? Or perhaps you’re old enough to recall when newspapers started the chain of changes that included colored/negro/black/Negro/Black/Afro-American/African-American? I thought “person of color” would never roll off my tongue easily, but it does — and is a much more respectful and useful phrase than my various bumbling guesses.

Now and then I hear someone–usually a person my age or older–complain they don’t know what the correct term is, as if they are exhausted by the effort of updating their vocabulary. Oh, please. If you can remember your PIN numbers, you can do this too.

Fact is, if people use certain ethnic and racial labels long enough, they become default settings, and it becomes out-of-touch or even uncouth to use the old terms. This is a good thing.