A Few More Thoughts about Race

[Halcyon] was nice enough to leave me a few notes about my previous entry about Race, so I thought I’d add a few thoughts about it quickly before Meg gets home.
Halcyon, the word
The word halcyon dates back to the 1540s, in halcyon dayes (L. alcyonei dies, Gk. alkyonides hemerai), 14 days of calm weather at the winter solstice, when a mythical bird (identified with the kingfisher) was said to breed in a nest floating on calm seas. From halcyon (n.), late 14c., from L. halcyon, from Gk. halkyon, variant (perhaps a misspelling) of alkyon "kingfisher," from hals "sea, salt" (see halo-) + kyon "conceiving," prp. of kyein "to conceive," lit. "to swell," from PIE root *keue- "to swell." Identified in mythology with Halcyone, daughter of Aeolus, who when widowed threw herself into the sea and became a kingfisher.
A halcyon (noun) is a tropical Asian and African kingfisher (genus Halcyon) with brightly colored plumage, like this pretty little fellow:

Anyway, it’s a neat word.
[Halcyon]’s comments:
Your friend is wrong about hispanic. Hispanic is coming from Spain. The definition varies slightly as to whether or not it includes Portugal (old hispania = all of the Iberian peninsula). It certainly does NOT include Mexico or Central America. Not even kind of. You see this word misused ALL the time by non-latinos. Hell, even some latinos do it.
Latino on the other hand is an umbrella term for people from Latin America aka South America and Mexico. Thus latino, from Latin America. It does not describe people from Spain.
My Response:
Meg’s my wife, although I don’t expect you to know that. As to your clarification, thanks. I’m no expert with the terms Hispanic or Latino.
Dictionary definitions seemed a bit mixed on these words as well. For example, Merriam-Webster says Hispanic means:
1: of or relating to the people, speech, or culture of Spain or of Spain and Portugal
2: of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent living in the United States; especially : one of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin
Definition #1 seems to match yours, but #2 seems at odds with it. I’m not saying you’re wrong; I’m just saying that the terms seem to be pretty ambiguous and many sources aren’t as clearly defined as your definition.
The English word Latino appears to be short for latinoamericano, so as you say, from Latin America.
And for the life of me, I don’t understand why Latin America is called Latin America, since the original inhabitants of the South/Central/North America certainly did not descend from the Latin-speaking Romans. The Spanish language did, of but the Spanish only showed up relatively recently in the Americas on October 12, 1492, to be precise.
Anyway, the term Latino refers to coming from Latin America, but also gives a nod to the Spanish language. Latino can apparently mean the non-Spanish-speaking inhabitants of these lands, including Brazillians.
As my friend [Davo] said, “I think the idea of "race" is a pernicious and obsolescent one, except as a sort of rough colloquial shorthand.” I think the words like Hispanic and Latino clearly demonstrate that they aren’t very precise terms.
Salami
Another thought before I wrap this up. Meg just called me regarding which kind of sandwich I wanted, and I answered that I wanted something involving salami.
Wait
Wait, that wasn’t the thought I wanted to end this entry with. I wanted to note that that I am not voting for Barak Obama because of his race. He came from a blended family, from what I understand, which means he has a fairly dark brown complexion, rather wiry cropped hair, and kind of an interesting color for his lips. I didn’t vote for him the first time because he looked like this, and I’m not going to vote in November for him because he looks like this. I honestly don’t care what heritage he hails from, or Romney for that matter. I am voting for Obama because of his actions and beliefs, not because of skin color.
With that said, I think it was about time we had someone other than an old light-skinned man in charge for a few years, just for the sake of equality and variety if anything. Now if only we could vote in a competant woman into office someday. I’d certainly like to see that before I die.