Why do Americans call Spanish speakers and Latinos "Spanish?"

[650lb Sumo]

'America' is everything from Alaska to the Falklands. US Americans and Canadians are known for geographical ignorance and calling themselves European nationalities.

Person from Chicago: 'I'm Irish!'
Person from Quebec: 'I'm French!'
Person from San Francisco: 'I'm Irish, Scottish and German!'

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitAmericansSay

Nobody from Quebec refers to themselves as French wtf are you talking about.

Yes they do, I've heard it with my own ears. Also English-speaking Canadians calling French-speaking Canadians 'French'. Why are you so defensive about this?

Not defensive, just rectifying something which is wrong. Where you are right though is that English speaking Canadians do tend to call Quebecois "French", so that maybe in that context a Quebecois could say to an English speaker "I am French".

My point is that Quebecois do not identify as French and would never say "je suis francais" when speaking French.

When Québécois people in my presence said 'I am/we are French' it wasn't in just a linguistic context. It was the same phenomenon as all the US Americans calling themselves 'Irish' or 'Scottish'. They did say it in English though, even when I was speaking to them in French.

Come to think of it, that reminds me of the story of an Irishman and his mother who were visiting the USA. They were speaking Irish on the street in San Francisco and a local told them 'This is America, you need to speak English here.' They explained that Irish was their first language and he started telling him he was Irish too.

Edit for clarification: The local did not recognise or understand the Irish language. He was American.

Interesting context. Surprising too. Was it diaspora quebecois outside of quebec?

In Quebec, Alberta and BC. In Quebec and one instance in Alberta they were from Quebec. The others I don't know, they could have been local Francophones. They were from Canada.

View attachment 1105293

@Contempt @lsa @SalvadorAllende

Myu fellow Frenchman will show you some magic in october.

News Post in thread 'Tom Aspinall vs Ciryl Gane - UFC:Abu Dhabi - Oct 25th'

Jul 22, 2025

@Contempt @lsa @SalvadorAllende

Myu fellow Frenchman will show you some magic in october.

• Versez

• 

 

[High Test With da Best]

I just know them as Spanish speakers, if it's not obvious they're Mexican at first.

Never heard them called Spanish tbh and I live in California where they're basically everywhere.

Spoiler

California has small northern Korean towns now? Or did you move? Eh, I don't reall care tbh, just keep up the funny posting

 

[High Test With da Best]

@Versez @lsa

I dunno, Gane's probably a sneaky Quebecois claiming Frenchness I've been hearing about...

 

[lsa]

@Versez @lsa

I dunno, Gane's probably a sneaky Quebecois claiming Frenchness I've been hearing about...

could be could be.

 

[Luffy]

Because USA think they are America. I'm from Brazil and when I say that I'm from Brazil, some online ppl are like bro you said you were American... Well yeah I am

 

[High Test With da Best]

could be could be.

Wait a sec, is that third flag under your name the French flag? The ol' Bleu, Blanche et Rouge? Or no, the French one has horizontal stripes instead, I think.

 

[lsa]

Wait a sec, is that third flag under your name the French flag? The ol' Bleu, Blanche et Rouge? Or no, the French one has horizontal stripes instead, I think.

It is the french flag. The real one.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

California has small northern Korean towns now? Or did you move? Eh, I don't reall care tbh, just keep up the funny posting

Northern California has everyone. The rest of the country (Wisconsin excluded) hadn’t even heard of Hmong people before Gran Torino.

 

[High Test With da Best]

It is the french flag. The real one.

Pfft, first the Quebecois claiming Frenchness now the Swedes. Erryone wants to be Fronch!

Northern California has everyone. The rest of the country (Wisconsin excluded) hadn’t even heard of Hmong people before Gran Torino.

Yes we do, minus large populations of western Europeans compared to many other areas of the country I'd say.

I was jokingly referring to his recent posts he lives in a small northern Korean town, that's all, I don't actually know and it also doesn't matter at all

 

[Aegon Spengler]

The simple answer is people aren't really educated. But we understand "Spanish" is a colloquial term form Hispanic or Latino, so we just go with it.

It's similar to when people say: "He's not black/white he's Dominican"

RIP Alphaboy

We hardly knew yee

 

[Jack Reacheround]

Pfft, first the Quebecois claiming Frenchness now the Swedes. Erryone wants to be Fronch!

Yes we do, minus large populations of western Europeans compared to many other areas of the country I'd say.

I was jokingly referring to his recent posts he lives in a small northern Korean town, that's all, I don't actually know and it also doesn't matter at all

Those are white people.

 

[High Test With da Best]

Those are white people.

Ok, and? I don't know why you just said that hahah!

 

[Jack Reacheround]

Ok, and? I don't know why you just said that hahah!

I mean, we have plenty of white people. It’s not like I’m a minority here.

 

[Sinister]

It gets confusing when talking to Americans about the Spanish. Once I was told an American guy that I the girl was seeing was Spanish and he asks me, "Oh where is she from?"

Or if I say, "I have some Spanish friends. I can bring them to the party." Americans will ask, "Which countries are they from?"

Of if I may hear some guy say he met a sexy Spanish girl, but it turns out she's Dominican or Colombian or something.

It's obviously Spain. Spanish in terms of nationality = from Spain.

We don't say Canadians, Saffas, Aussies, Kiwis, and Americans are English because they speak English. If you hear someone is English, nobody would ask which country he is from; they just assume he's from England.

I can imagine how confusing it must be for Spanish people to tell Americans that they are Spanish and Americans ask them which country they are from.

Spanish people are from Spain.

Americans are aggressively ignorant.

 

[High Test With da Best]

I mean, we have plenty of white people. It’s not like I’m a minority here.

Still confused, all I did was agree we have folks from all over in norcal.

Anyway, gotta sleep, high-five, have a good one or whatevs!

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

News Post in thread 'Tom Aspinall vs Ciryl Gane - UFC:Abu Dhabi - Oct 25th'

Jul 22, 2025

@Contempt @lsa @SalvadorAllende

Myu fellow Frenchman will show you some magic in october.

• Versez

• 

Versez is some weirdo with a couple of alt accounts and I think he often confuses the one in which he is logged.

For a more normal person ask @Sonny Qc if he sees himself as „from France“.

I don‘t know what you are trying to illustrate but Québec is a society where the official language is French, people speak French at home, school is in French. That is Québécois identity. Yes, our ancestors came from France and we kept our language, but when we say we are „French Canadian“ we are not refering to France as a country, but as the origins of our culture.

If you do not see the difference between that and some 1/17th „Irish“ American mutt, then I don‘t know what more to tell you.

 

[Possum Jenkins]

Americans are aggressively ignorant.

They are BUT... in this case their ignorance is kinda sorta justified.

Using "Spanish" for Latinos/Hispanics is almost exclusively a New York/East Coast thing. AFAIK, this was started in the early 20th century when Puerto Ricans and Cubans were the only Latinos New Yorkers had contact with.

And during this time, Puerto Rico's and Cuba's ties to Spain were very close so you did have tons of Cubans and Puerto Ricans that were one generation away from being full-on Spaniards. Then you also had a small but significant Spanish migration to NYC and Tampa.

Add all this together and you get Spanish meaning more or less "anyone that can trace their ancestry back to a Spanish-speaking country." It's not accurate but it's explainable.

 

[Cole train]

Nice 2 year old thread bump

 

[PainIsLIfe]

It gets confusing when talking to Americans about the Spanish. Once I was told an American guy that I the girl was seeing was Spanish and he asks me, "Oh where is she from?"

Or if I say, "I have some Spanish friends. I can bring them to the party." Americans will ask, "Which countries are they from?"

Of if I may hear some guy say he met a sexy Spanish girl, but it turns out she's Dominican or Colombian or something.

It's obviously Spain. Spanish in terms of nationality = from Spain.

We don't say Canadians, Saffas, Aussies, Kiwis, and Americans are English because they speak English. If you hear someone is English, nobody would ask which country he is from; they just assume he's from England.

I can imagine how confusing it must be for Spanish people to tell Americans that they are Spanish and Americans ask them which country they are from.

Spanish people are from Spain.

I don't know anyone that calls Latinos Spanish; if anything they call them all Mexican.

 

[ShinkanPo]

Why not just say "Mexican friend" or "Peruvian friend?" If you have a Canadian friend, you won't call him "English friend" or "French friend" if he speaks French.
Or you just say Latino if you still want to be general but get the wrong country.


I have a Taiwanese girl.
Which part of China is she from?

Taiwanese women are super!!!!!