ABX

[Mark Mandel]

On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 7:47 PM, Benjamin Zimmer <
bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 6:59 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:
> >
> > I've heard ABC for American-Born Chinese since the 80s and even heard
> > ABJ (Japanese) once of twice. Today, the Seattle Times had an article
> > about ABKs, Kenyans.
> [...]
> > I wonder if there is any limitation on this and what do you do with
> > multiple countries starting with the same letter? BB
>
> For South Asians, there's ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi. Wikipedia
> supplies some longer alphabetic variations, such as ABCDEFGHIJ:
> "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, House In
> Jersey."
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-Born_Confused_Desi

I would expect the AB_ initialisms to be used mostly among members of the
respective groups, and so without risk of confusion in context. The WP
article on "Desi" says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desi#Usage):

>>>
It is mainly used by those of South Asian origins themselves, rarely by the
majority population, and carries a subtext of inclusiveness and unity. It
allows South Asians to refer to their broader immigrant community, rather
than requiring a specific, nationalistic label such as "Indian" or
"Pakistani". As such, its connotations are positive, alluding to the shared
values, bonds and experiences of descendants of the entire region.
<<<

Incidentally, OED has this word but not in this sense.

Mark Mandel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org