What is the difference between hispanic & latino?

I have always wondered exactly what the difference is between hispanic and latino and chicano. Please forgive my ignorance, but I'm trying to learn, so don't take offense. I think it has to do with the country you're from or your ascendants?

Thanks for explaining this to me and thanks in advance for not making me feel stupid.

For me, Hispanic is us people from islands, whereas latinos are from Central and South America, which is the area that is referred to as Latin America excluding Brazil because apparently, they don't like being referred to as such.

But the Spanish consider themselves Caucasians. *shrugs*

Anyway, we like to be specific about where our blood is from, so either word is one that is used when referring to the general population of people whose country was conquered by the Spanish. Otherwise, we proudly say, "I'm Puerto Rican" or whatever. And by the way, not everyone from a Spanish speaking country on this side of the planet is tan; this is a gross misconception.

So hispanic is from the Caribbean? Puerto Rico, Cuba, etc.

And Latino is South America?

Chicano is American born Mexican?

What about the Mexicans, what would they be considered? Aztec? Inca? Latino?

Thanks yall for educating me.

And it goes further back to the early settlers as well? Italy and Spain.

Like white people say they are of Irish or Dutch or German descent?

I had a friend in high school whose family was from Spain.

She was born in Puerto Rico because her father had been stationed there, at the time.

But if anyone called her Puerto Rican, she would yell back, "I am NOT Puerto Rican-- I'm SPANISH!"

And she looked European, too-- back then, I didn't really understand the difference.

Yeah, I bet that's frustrating for her.

You have to understand that our DNA is not that simple. 😆 I tell people that if a Puerto Rican marries an Asian, their kids can say they are the world because the only blood we DON'T have is Asian. The Spanish are happy to be considered just one thing, whereas for me, as transparent as my skin is, while I have no intention of getting pregnant, I am happy to have the capacity to give birth to black children with straight hair and blue or green eyes, and white children with afros. There are proud tan and black parents here who have produced pale red haired children with freckles, and I'm related to tan people with natural red hair. This all stems from white, black, and Ta?_no blood. Maybe one day, you'll meet an unmarried tan person with black eyes and hair and an Irish last name. 😆 That happens a lot. 😆

Posted by ProphetaAzteca
reason we get irritated is because we KNOW where we descend from.We know what culture we belong to,what language we speak,the origin of our ancestry.Then someone decides to generalize or categorize us with another group...that pisses us off.

People take pride in their identity.Just be respectful of their background and culture

This is why I ask. I want to be informed and respectful. I'm in Texas and here everyone gets lumped into the Mexican category and it's so not the case. It's got to be frustrating.

It's important to be proud of and know your ancestory, to know of those that come before you.

You couldn't Google this?

Posted by rockyroadicecream
You couldn't Google this?

Sure, but I'm getting a better feel for it from the discussion.

This isn't something you can Google. It's better to know how the people being referred to feel about it. Kind of like how if you Google Zodiac signs, you are told how people are "supposed to be", and there are certain things that are true and often common to them, but everyone really should be experienced as an individual in order to be understood.

LMAO!!!!

So, it's true what they say about Latin Lovers? 😉


(sorry, that's stereotypical isn't it? Don't want to throw you into a stereotype) 😛

Posted by 2N3R
This isn't something you can Google. It's better to know how the people being referred to feel about it. Kind of like how if you Google Zodiac signs, you are told how people are "supposed to be", and there are certain things that are true and often common to them, but everyone really should be experienced as an individual in order to be understood.

Oh yes it is.

I found out far more information about her question than from the answers already given here.

FYI, opinions and already existing "discussions" are out there.

Overall, I just find it odd some of the stuff that's asked here. Nothing wrong with any of it per se, I just find myself asking that when I see some of these threads. DXP isn't exactly my go to for things like that.

Posted by kraft
Latino and Hispanic are both created by the US govt in order to track of People from Mexican countries.

Chicano was created by Cholos because some of them smoked too much pot and thought Cholo sounded kinda cool. It sort of rolls off the tongue.

lol

Posted by rockyroadicecream

Posted by 2N3R
This isn't something you can Google. It's better to know how the people being referred to feel about it. Kind of like how if you Google Zodiac signs, you are told how people are "supposed to be", and there are certain things that are true and often common to them, but everyone really should be experienced as an individual in order to be understood.

Oh yes it is.

I found out far more information about her question than from the answers already given here.

FYI, opinions and already existing "discussions" are out there.

Overall, I just find it odd some of the stuff that's asked here. Nothing wrong with any of it per se, I just find myself asking that when I see some of these threads. DXP isn't exactly my go to for things like that.

click to expand

You don't have to enter threads like this, ya know. 🙂

Posted by cheekyfaerie

Posted by 2N3R
But the Spanish consider themselves Caucasians. *shrugs*

Anyway, we like to be specific about where our blood is from, so either word is one that is used when referring to the general population of people whose country was conquered by the Spanish. Otherwise, we proudly say, "I'm Puerto Rican" or whatever. And by the way, not everyone from a Spanish speaking country on this side of the planet is tan; this is a gross misconception.

If that was directed at my comment, i was speaking more to our collective ignorance and not your ability to come in different shades. 😄

Now excuse me while i go back to daydreaming about Xabi Alonso.

click to expand

If you mean the last part, no it wasn't. There are a lot of people who think we're all tan, even people whose blood is froma country where Spanish is spoken. @_@ People in general say the same thing people say about some homosexuals, which is "You don't look like one". My response(to both! 😆) is "what are we s
upposed to look like? >_>" 😆

Posted by rockyroadicecream

Posted by 2N3R
This isn't something you can Google. It's better to know how the people being referred to feel about it. Kind of like how if you Google Zodiac signs, you are told how people are "supposed to be", and there are certain things that are true and often common to them, but everyone really should be experienced as an individual in order to be understood.

Oh yes it is.

I found out far more information about her question than from the answers already given here.

FYI, opinions and already existing "discussions" are out there.

Overall, I just find it odd some of the stuff that's asked here. Nothing wrong with any of it per se, I just find myself asking that when I see some of these threads. DXP isn't exactly my go to for things like that.

click to expand

But this can be applied to pretty much anything and everything that is posted here. It's a forum, how is it to exist without any of these topics? There's even spam!!!!! 😆 😆 😆