Why is it that we usually refer to all non-African ethnicities as their actual name ("I'm Japanese, French, and Brazilian!"), but when it comes to all the African countries, we just say "I'm black" or something along those lines, amirite?

+178 Why is it that we usually refer to all non-African ethnicities as their actual name ("I'm Japanese, French, and Brazilian!"), but when it comes to all the African countries, we just say "I'm black" or something along those lines, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because africa has so many countries within it

by Anonymous 13 years ago

And Asia doesn't?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Are you saying you hear a lot of people saying, "I'm Kyrgyz, Azerbaijani, and Tajik"? I know people who are Egyptian and Malagasy and they don't just say 'black'. It mostly depends on if anyone has actually heard of their country before.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's basically what I said in my post below. Except I was all long and rambly and you just kinda got to the point. lol.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Cause Africa isn't a country -- if they were from Kenya or something they would probably call themselves Kenyan

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I'm Eritrean. It's a country in eastern Africa that most people have never heard of. When someone I know well asks me, I say I'm Eritrean, but if it's a random person, I just say black because I don't want to go through the whole "Africa ignorance" speech. Were you born there? No. Were your parents poor? No. Did they have food? Yes. Did they go to school? Yes. Did they live in a hut? No. Do they have AIDs? No. Do they speak African? That's not a language. What language do they speak? Tigrinya. OMG WHAT'S THAT?! Did I not just say it was a language? inb4 tl;dr

by Anonymous 13 years ago

OMG YOUR ERITREAN? WERE YOU BORN THERE? WERE YOUR PARENTS POOR? DID THEY HAVE FOOD? DID THEY GO TO SCHOOL? DID THEY LIVE IN A HUT? DO THEY HAVE AIDs? DO THEY SPEAK AFRICAN? WHAT LANGUAGE DO THEY SPEAK?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

This actually made me giggle (:

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hahaha, with such a great opportunity, how could i not take advantage of the moment?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's stupid. Not everyone in Africa is black. Just like not everyone in the US/UK is white.In South Africa, there happen to be a hell of a lot of white people (born and bred there), myself included. And to answer the ignorance speech: Were you born there? Yes. Were your parents poor? No. Did they have food? Yes. Did they go to school? Yes. Did they live in a hut? No. Do they have AIDS? No. Do they speak African? That's not a language. What language do they speak? English. Afrikaans too. My dad grew up on a farm where most of his friends were black, so he speaks Xhosa as well. My mom is Jewish and speaks some Hebrew she learned at school. Also: Do you have electricity? Yes. Is your life similar to the lives of people in Aus/US/UK? Yes.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well Im black and the reason I dont say a country is because I have no clue what country my ancestors are from lol. It's probaly because you know how you can sometimes tell someone's origin from their last name? Well , some slaves , when brought to america , had their last names changed if their original name was too hard to pronounce so their last name doesnt depict their origin. And if im wrong please correct me lol im not an expert on this stuff.

by Anonymous 13 years ago