Chesterlestreet
Man of the crowd
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2012
- Messages
- 19,777
Referring to race...
The terms "negro" and "negrito" ("negra" and "negrita" being the female forms) clearly do not refer to "race" in any meaningful sense in contemporary usage, though.
A man may call his girlfriend "negrita" even though both persons share the same skin colour (shade, tone, whatever) - because her hair is dark, say. Or a shade darker than someone else's. Or because she has dark brown eyes - who knows. Perhaps even for no good reason whatsoever - the usage seems almost random at times.
Etymologically, however, these terms seem to be more problematic. The origin of "negrito"/"negrita" seems to have something to do with "race" (whatever that is).
But - really - is it the FA's business to purge the Spanish language of terms with may or may not be problematic with regard to their origins?