Words we Shouldn't Use

Semantics (study of word meaning) is extremely important to minority communities. The words we use in stories to describe people can have a positive – or devastating - effect on them.

Latinos

Perhaps the one ethnic community that is hurt the most by the words that journalists use is Latinos.

HISPANIC:  Here’s a government-invented word that is considered a “white word” by many Chicanos.

Historically, it became popularized decades ago by the Census Bureau on its forms to categorize Latinos because it – the bureau – didn’t want to separately list all the many nations in Latin America. It is almost universally disliked by those Latinos who have not become totally Americanized, and still are proud of their cultural heritage.

Even in a border city like San Diego, the white-dominated TV newsrooms unfortunately use the word Hispanic regularly.

ILLEGAL ALIENS: Here is an ugly phrase used consistently by the anti-Latino, Minutemen vigilantes; conservative politicians and many in the news media.

As a kid, an alien in my mind was some little green weirdo with three eyes who came from another planet. My Webster’s dictionary says the word refers to someone who is so different that they are “incompatible.”

Add “illegal” to that incompatibility and you have someone who is really, really bad. Yet, I find that phrase in many newspapers and news magazines in referring to Latinos.

The phrase preferred by many Chicanos is “undocumented immigrant,” but you rarely see it used in news stories or by politicans.


Gays

The word “homosexual” is still being used in news stories even though it is very, very outdated.  Back in the 50’s, the popular word to describe Gays was “homophile.”  It was a scientific term and, because homosexuality was then universally unlawful in most states, the only way to write about that lifestyle was to put the story into the format of a scientific article.

In the 60’s, the word homophile gave way to the word “homosexual,” in both the alternative press and the mainstream media.

After the Gay Liberation movement took hold in the 70’s, the word Gay became the preferred term. The phrase “Gay Community” referred to both Gays and Lesbians. The word homosexual was, and still is, disliked by gay leaders because of its emphasis on sex, which is really a very small part of the gay experience.

In the 80’s, as Lesbians became more vocal and outspoken, they insisted that separate identity was necessary and the phrase “Gay and Lesbian” became popular. Still uncomfortable with their so-called, second-place position in that phrase, Lesbians gradually insisted that the community be called the Lesbian and Gay Community. That placed Lesbians in the forefront, even though they are numerically a minority in the Gay Community.

There is still today a huge controversy over the prominence of the word Lesbian in identifying that minority community.  While many Lesbian-dominated, community organizations are now called LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) groups, gay males are almost universally unhappy with that designation.

To use the word homosexual in a news story is as improper and out-of-date as referring to an African-American as a “negro.”


Asian-Americans

When writing a story about someone from Japan, Viet Nam, Thailand or another country in the Far East, how does a journalist refer to them, generically?

I asked that questions of a Chinese friend of mine.  Should I write the word “oriental,” for example?

He responded firmly that it is more proper to say “Asian-American.”

Indeed, in San Diego, we have a solid organization called the Asian-American Journalists Association.