"Hispanic or Mexican"; Balderdash & Piffle

[Towse]

On 10/19/07, Barry Popik <bapopik at gmail.com> wrote:
> HISPANIC OR MEXICAN
> ...
> The wife and I visited a medical office recently and filled out some
> detailed forms. One asked "Hispanic or Mexican." My wife wondered why
> it wasn't just "Hispanic," but I guess this is Texas.

You can be Hispanic without being Mexican. You can also be Mexican
without being Hispanic, as any Mexican with native Mexican blood will
tell you.

Things can get pretty dicey with some folks claiming their upscale
Hispanic-French-German background (no peasant native Mexicans in the
family tree, thankyouverymuch) while others are proud of their pure
native Mexican ancestry and resent the Hispanic sneers and the folks
who want to label them as Hispanic when, thankyouverymuch, they are
not and don't want to be.

The medical office had probably run into both types.

--
Sal

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and the terminally curious <http://writers.internet-resources.com>

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