Mr. Brians is very opinionated about that term, but it is still useful, and you’ll still hear it used in a law enforcement context in the US. In fact, if you watch American detective shows, they even shorten it to “Cauc”, as in “middle-aged male Cauc, 6 foot 2…”
The other reason the term is still used here is that it includes people who are of the “white” race but are not white. For example, people from India and Pakistan are generally of more or less the same appearance as Europeans, but they are not white. If we call them Asian, people will think we are talking about someone who looks Chinese. If you say Indian, people don’t know if you’re talking about someone from India or a so-called “Native American”. So if you describe someone (in a police context, remember) as “male Caucasian, black hair, dark brown complexion…” people know what he looks like. We use “Caucasian” in other contexts, as well.
Hi,
Jamie, you’ve missed to mention WASP as the main characteristic of an American. Reading carefully the exchange, I couldn’t help noticing how insistently you used 'Americans don’t care". Of course, they don’t - about some things /just some of them/, and representatives of other nations /just some of them, too/ …well, don’t appreciate that trait of Americans so much. Not intended to go into details but: we’ve been just speaking ants altogether granted a minute’s stay on that planet. And saying something like “Whatever you say, I’m against it” because you are of different race, religion, origin, etc. sounds ridiculous. Of course, different we are. But we’re doomed to tolerate each other somehow. “No man is an island…”, remember?
I hope, I didn’ hurt your feelings. When I hear “American” it comes to my mind the name of Hank Willims Jr., Old Hem /Papa/ and some others I revere.
Regards.
Sorry, Williams, of course.