I just ran into something I am unable to describe correctly: A young man with an African-American father and Irish mother. While that is indeed a description, it's not something one would soon say in casual conversation. How do I describe that with the least amount of words? I had "half-blood" but while that might work for Harry Potter it sounds terribly racist in this context. But I am looking for an acceptable term that does something like it. If it helps, it pisses all over the Bechdel test, as it comes up in a conversation between two girls who have an interest in him. Anyway, something snappy and not-racist. I'll deal with the sexism myself. Also, if you come up with "double-blood" I will come to your house and frown at you.
Yeah, I would stay away from "half-blood." No-one I know uses that term. Is this an instance of one girl telling the other that his mom is white? Then that's all she'd say. "Irish, I think," she added.
Biracial, mixed race, or just “mixed” would be your best options that fit “least amount of words” and “not racist”, though those still might not fit this sort of casual conversation. “Mixed” is the most likely, IMO.
Thanks everybody. That helped! Might be a Dutch thing. It's sounds less... demeaning in Dutch, and often comes with a modifier to cutesy it up. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it's like the Scots "wee" that can turn a bastard into a lovable "wee bastard." Yeah, I'm suddenly seeing the issue. Girl A tells girl B about her boyfriend. Because they're good friends, girl A feels comfortable enough to tell girl B: "You'll like him. He's [mixed]." Obviously this will cause exactly the conflict you'd think. Weirdly, I haven't heard that enough for it to sound right, but it sounds right. And this is probably the winner. Which I should have known. I think I'm at the age where I black out on words. Expect more posts in the near future, where I will be asking you what my name is, or if you know where I live.
That is a bad idea. With all the jokers we have here, someone is going to tell you something like Stephen King, and you live in Maine.
I don't see the downside. I've not been to Maine yet, and I already pretend I'm that good. Ah. Heritage instead of race. Better. Looks like the word I was unable to think of the whole time, too, so thanks.
"Mixed" is probably the most common vernacular term for it in my experience (as a "mixed" person). If I tell people I'm "Sino-Hibernian" they just look at me funny. Anyway here's a funny video of an Irish guy poking fun at Mariah Carey for calling her drink "Black Irish."
I remember a woman I heard on NPR discussing that very subject. She was half "white" and half Asian, and went through a whole litany of terms for mixed-heritage. She eventually decided on "Mixed Ethnicity" because the initials were ME. I loved that answer.
Yes. Funny. But very confusing. There are some things that just short circuit me. As a Thin Lizzy fan I shouldn't even bat an eye at this, but a black man with a very white accent doesn't compute. A long time ago there used to be a girl from Suriname at my employment agency. This was back when you had to go there in person, so I talked to her a lot. I was also single back then and not yet fully aware that she was way out of my league. Anyway, she was mostly black, but had a Limburg accent. Limburg is the southernmost provence of Netherlands and they... speak differently, let's go with that. That Black Irish clip immediately made me think of her again since years and I thank you.
On the subject of surprising accents, this ethnic Russian guy became an internet celebrity in China a few years ago. He’s descended from White Russian emigres and speaks only Chinese with a thick northeastern accent
My wife is Chinese, and my background is all northern European. We simply say our kids are Asian and Caucasian. Or sometimes simply half-Chinese, when the Caucasian is implied in context. In writing a story, I suppose I'd do it indirectly, like "My mother is Chinese, my father's ancestry was European," or something like that.
I suddenly realize it's actually a sort of racist. This is not an accusation. But if somebody had a German father and a Dutch mother, nobody's going to ask "hey, where are you from?" It inches towards the simpler people who like to yell "foreigners go home" and completely miss that this also means the very white Canadian next door they like so much. Anyway. Heritages are interesting.
It certainly can be racist. But it also is simply descriptive, if relevant. And my daughter, who looks only slightly Asian, if at all, proudly embraces the description.
It's not necessarily racist to notice a person's appearance or name and connect those with possible places of family origin. Maybe discussing ethnic background is an American thing because many of us are such mixed bags of genes. "Nicolajsen? That a Scandanavian name?" "Yeah, Danish. My mom was Welsh and Italian, though." "No kidding? My mother came from Wales." "Huh! With your black hair and eyes, I'd have guessed your mom was maybe Spanish." "Nah, lots of Welsh people are dark. Besides, my father is Guarani and Laotian." Etc. I've had dozens, if not hundreds of similar conversations over the decades.
Yeah, I should nuance myself a bit. In this case I don't mean racist as in go-go-hitler-arm racist. More like you're-not-like-me-and-that's-interesting racist. Perhaps that isn't even racist, but I used the word because it mostly occurs when encountering heritages that are quickly described as "ethnic." I'll have to at least hear Nicolajsen's name before I even start seeing any mixed heritage. Sure. There's a tan, but Leather Helen from HR has one too, and she just came back from a white pride rally. Nobody likes Helen from HR. Eh, it's probably just me. I find it interesting to figure out if I can see the difference between, say, Moroccan and Turkish. While the Netherlands is a melting pot of different cultures, or probably because of it, a lot of loud white people complain about racism to show they're not racist. Anyway, nuance may not be my thing.
