Lexicography 101

While reading your Nov. 14 article “So New York . . . Yet So Hollywood,” about Judge Edwin Torres and the film “Carlito’s Way,” my mind was absolutely boggled to learn that according to your usage, persons of Italian descent are apparently not considered to be “Latinos.”

Are we getting just a little too P.C. for our own good here? I think your writer meant to say that some were upset that Al Pacino is not a Hispanic actor, but I must point out that it would be rather difficult to become more Latin than an Italian!

Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc., are all Romance languages because they are based on Latin, the tongue spoken by the Romans , who originated in what is now Italy. Similarly, the term Latino derives from the Spanish Latino Americano , or Latin American, referring to that portion of the continent that speaks a Latin-derived language as its primary tongue.

Thus, to be strictly L.C. (linguistically correct), we would have to include all “Americans” descended from cultures speaking Latinate languages under the rubric of Latin Americans .

JAMES VerHOEFCypress