Wednesday 29 August 2018

Americans

In a rather surprisingly slow to ensue but surely inevitable development and corollary to the use of the term 'African-American', 'white' Americans are henceforth to be known as 'European-Americans', arising ethnically as of course they do from Europe. Besides of course various other denominations, as it were, it is of note to remind the reader that a 'Native American' is henceforth to be described as an 'American-American.'

All very clear and obvious, though much excitement has arisen in the cases of offsprings of mixed ethnicity. How is one to designate someone, to be crude, of a black father and white mother? 'African-American-European-American-American'? Perhaps, and with the order reversed if the father were white and mother black. And this primacy of the masculine element in these matters of verbal delineation is itself also of course a very thorny issue. But allowing those murky gender waters to rest a while, what, to extend things a little, if an American-American were to mate with an African-American-European-American-American? Would the child be an American-American-African-American-European-American-American-American? At that point one might even argue that things are beginning to border on the ridiculous, though until one is sure of oneself and where things stand it might be safer to keep one's silence or at least speak very quietly about such matters.

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