Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
Negroid isn't racist. It's the scientific term for the African ethnic type, and comes from the Latin for "black".

For everybody, don't forget that if you have mixed origin among these 3 groups, your are in "other". Half Japanese, half European for instance.
I beg to differ on both points. The term "negroid," while not racist to some (anymore than, say, "cracker" might be racist to a Japanese who knew little about the term) might well give offense to others. You can argue it derives from the Spanish "negro" or Latin "nigrum," but then arguably so did another word which we might agree is very much racist. The fact remains the word "negroid" is not in current scientific use.

The term "Mongoloid" in particular has taken on connotations of describing a child with Down's syndrome (offensively) and should be used with care, as should all of these terms used to describe the very-much debated concept of "race." The scientific reasons for these debates are numerous and well-documented. As society and our understanding of humans have developed, the term "race" has come to be a much more sociological than scientific term.

As in so many other areas, the terms we(you) use to classify others end up reflecting ourselves (yourself) .

Certainly in Japan the term "haafu" is in common use, but I find it pejorative--you may say this is PC of me but I can't imagine a child branded as "half" anything could find much encouragement in the term. If we insist on labeling one another, I, along with many others, prefer the term "double," or, even better, just "person."

It's bad enough that as a kid I had to fill in the little boxes on the standardized tests: Caucasion? Negroid? Other?

Must we play that game here, too?

A- by the way.