I think Leftpondians universally say /gleISR/ (or /gleIS@/ for non-rhotics). "Glay-sher", IYW, not "glay-see-er".

Then, M-W is dead wrong. I suppose that there have been changes in the meaning of these words that are not reflected by dictionaries.


I don't think it be bogus. Despite Portuguese wishes, both cultures (and languages) are quite similar.

I know that words change their meanings, and when some time has passed, dictionaries reflect those changes. "Latino" may be one of those words. Anyway, the oversimplification you mention is in M-W.


I'm "Latin", if you prefer it, but after European and before Hispanic I'm something that I call "Latino" but you seem to ignore. I feel that I have something in common with Italians and Frenchpersons, something that Germans, Scandinavians or Slaves don't have.

He is black. I remember that there are some films dealing with the matter of white black people (persons whose fathers were considered black but they were born white) in USA; those films surprised me a lot. When I was younger, I was quite surprised that some actors and actresses who were white for me, considered themselves black because they have some black blood. I mean, for me, a person with 25% of his ancestors black and 75% of his ancestors white, is white; in USA, he is considered black, in Spain he would be white, or, for some people who accept Hollywood films as an acceptable description of the world, mulato, but few people would consider him simply black.

Anyway, the fact that a person be black or white is not important for me, so I don't conciously classify a person I meet as black or white, but If he says he is black or white, I'll accept it.

We have high immigration levels lately, mainly from Africa and South America. But we prefer not to define racial status: differently from the USA's way, a person more white than black is white. This is not a common trait of all Spaniards, as Hollywood is powerful transmitting the USA's cultural values, but is valid for many Spaniards.
I worked with a person who was a 3rd generation Spaniard but whose skin was quite black (surprisingly, his grandparents and parents had married mostly with black Spaniards); he acted and spoke as any other Spaniard, so nobody treated him differently, nor did he seems to think that he was different in any way from the other co-workers. My girlfriend has worked with Spaniards from northern Africa (yes, in Spain there are many people of North-African origin, mainly from Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish towns in North Africa): their skin is a bit darker than most Spaniards', and they are muslim, but almost nobody treats them differently, nor do they think themselves that they are different.
These are different cases from people just arrived to Spain who do not speak Spanish as Spaniards, nor do they know the Spanish culture. These people are regarded as "foreigners", but not because of their skin color: a white Polish is as foreigner as a black African.
I believe that a society that defines itself as "multiracial society" is just a racist society.

Saludos cordiales
Javi
Conjunction of an irregular verb:
I am firm.
You are obstinate.
He is a pig-headed fool.

Oy!

That would be "Latin" here, in the sense of
4 : of or relating to the peoples or countries using Romancelanguages;
"Latino" is narrower.

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laboratories >Its like grasping the difference
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 >between what one usually considersPalo Alto, CA 94304 >a 'difficult' problem, and what

Evan K. raises an important point in this regard. How do you account for the racial caste systems that are in place throughout Latin America today? These were set up originally (in part by establishing systems of enslavement of non-European populations, both indigenous and imported African slaves) by Spaniards and Portuguese persons, or by Spanish and Portuguese colonists if you prefer. Surely you don't regard the institution of slavery in the Spanish Empire to be of a "non-racist" character.