[leephillips]

Do you have any evidence you can share about who invented “Latinx”? I’ve lived in Central America for a few years now, and the only time I’ve heard this term, or related ones, here, is when someone was mocking it. Of course that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t invented by some Latinos. But I only encounter it used with pride when I’m reading NPR articles in English.

[PhasmaFelis]

Who exactly used it first appears to be lost to history, but the first known published academic appearance seems to have been in the Fall 2004 volume of a bilingual journal called Feministas Unidas. It was used there is passing, without explanation, apparently assuming the readers were already familiar with it. https://people.wku.edu/inma.pertusa/encuentros/FemUn/newslet...

There are reports of online usage of both "Latinx" and "Latin@" going back to the late '90s. There are other references to academic uses that I haven't been able to track to original sources after a brief search.

Mainstream media (in English or Spanish) only appears to have discovered it in the last few years. I do get the impression that a lot of early adoption was from English-speaking Latinos in the US, which might explain the apparent incompatibility with actual Spanish. I don't read Spanish myself, so there's only so far I can pursue this. But it's not a recent invention of clueless white people.

"Latine" is a compromise I've seen proposed recently. https://callmelatine.wordpress.com/

[leephillips]

I really appreciate these details; thank you.

On “Latine”: at a recent gathering of friends I mistakenly said «miembre» for “member” instead of «miembro» (I’m still learning Spanish). This led to a certain amount of hilarity and jokes aimed at the progressive gender-neutralizing crowd, that likes to use «e» endings instead of the correct ones. It’s a small extremist minority, and a general butt of jokes here. So «Latine» would be seen as just as ridiculous as «Latinx».

[remarkEon]

"Latinx" is a germanic language construction grafted onto a Latin-based word. It makes no sense, and is non-pronounceable in Spanish. "Latine" is, perhaps, pronounceable, but is a confusing suffix. My recommendation is to drop this silliness. Germanic languages (English is one) and Romantic languages (like Spanish, French etc) have rules and trying to bleed rules from one into the other leads to the hilarity that you describe in your comment.

(I speak conversational German, a little Spanish, native English)

[umanwizard]

No actual evidence, but I get the impression that it was invented by the tiny fraction of Latino people who are at liberal arts colleges in the US, or involved in ultra-niche politics.

“Latine” and “Latin@” (and similar constructions for other -o/-a words) are not unheard of in some actual Latin American countries, though. The former has the advantage that it is straightforward to pronounce in Spanish (I assume for “Latin@s” you’d use the cumbersome “Latinas y Latinos”, and “LatinX” is just impossible).

[throwawayacc4]

>“Latine” and “Latin@” (and similar constructions for other -o/-a words) are not unheard of in some actual Latin American countries, though.

"Latrine", " Latin@", and "Latinx" are almost entirely unheard of in actual Latin American countries, though.

The Association of Academies of the Spanish Language is the governing body that defines what official Spanish is. If you can find a single academy that lists "Latinx" or "Latin@" as official Spanish, I'll eat my hat.

These neologisms are nothing more than US leftist linguistic imperialism.

[umanwizard]

I have actually encountered “Latine” and “Latin@” in Colombia. The academies you mention don’t determine how people speak in practice.

[throwawayacc4]

/r/thathappened