diverse = 'ethnically different'

[Amy West]

On 1/20/11 12:05 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> Date:    Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:05:13 -0500
> From:    "Joel S. Berson"<Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Re: diverse = 'ethnically different'
>
> At 1/19/2011 10:01 AM, Leslie Decker wrote:
>
>> >In primary and secondary education circles, diverse often has the meaning
>> >'non-white' or 'of non-Northern/Western European descent.' You'll often hear
>> >things like, "This school is very diverse,"  when it's 95% Hispanic (and 99%
>> >of those Hispanics are Mexican).
> The previous is dumb, but for the following:
>

It may be dumb, but I´ve heard it as well. It´s becoming another
synonym, or euphemism, if you will for "minority" or "non-white
minority." And let's face it, as Leslie Decker points out, that
"minority" use may not be an actual minority but is short for
"non-politically-or-economically-dominant ethnic and cultural groups who
have been overlooked in the past."

I do agree with others who read the original use as being an instance of
using "diverse" to signify what I'd use "different" for.

--
---Amy West

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