On the Use of the Word ‘Anglo’
Not all English speakers are “Anglos”.
It happens all the time, I will be in a meeting where we will be discussing a project for several cultures and someone will say to me: “What do the Anglos think?” I want to say: “Not being an Anglo, I have no idea.”
My family heritage is Irish and I was born and grew up in Boston and suburbs. I am not nor will I ever be an Anglo. I am a Celt. That is the race of the Irish. The Irish including Irish-Americans are not Anglos. Neither are the Kenyans, the Indians nor even the Hong Kong Chinese, though each group was once ruled by the British.
There are some studies that say that genetically the Irish and British are indistinguishable. But in a 2007 article from the New York Times, Nicholas Wade reports “The implication that the Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh have a great deal in common with each other, at least from the geneticist’s point of view, seems likely to please no one.” [English, Irish, Scots: They’re All One, Genes Suggest; May 5, 2007]
This really hit home for me one time when I was in a meeting with Hispanics. They are not “the Spanish” as they were born and raised in Central America.
Using the same technique other English speakers employ towards them, one of them asked me: “What do you English think?”
I was shocked by my response, it seemed to come from the deepest part inside of me. “I am NOT English!”
I have nothing against the British per se, but I am not of that country or that race. I may speak English, but that does not make me an Anglo.
Wikipedia, though citing the common usage of the word to refer to English speaking people of European descent, does note that actually the word comes from the Latin, meaning the people we now call the British. I am not of their number and neither are many others whom folks call Anglos.
Often I correct people using the term that they are actually referring to the English speakers many of whom, including myself, are not Anglos.
The term is often used to refer to those caucasians who trace their roots to Europe, a vast minority are not, in fact, Anglos. Hollingsworth Buckingham may be an Anglo, Aleide Van der Wieden may not be, most likely Patrick O’Brien is not one either nor is Eloise Duquesne
As a writer, I do not use the word Anglo. I refer to myself and others as English speakers which refers to all those who speak English as a first, second, third, ad infinitum language. It is a more accurate term when referring to those whom you serve or describe who speak English, but are not British.
If you must use the word Anglo, then add -phone to it and call them Anglophones, the technical term for English speakers.
But I am not, never have been, nor ever will be an Anglo and I am not alone in that understanding.