just an Englishman/woman is fine i think. in Australia we just use Australian.

seems to me that there are more people complaining about other people being too pc and getting all shrill and work up about it than there are people being silly and being too pc.

Does England have an equivalent of Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson? If not, I doubt there is a problem with calling them black Englishmen. In the USA, the media as well as pretentious liberals from all-white states like Vermont are the ones who cling to PC the most. I'll never forget going to college and meeting my roommate ask me( while being totally serious) whether I preferred "African-American, Black, or Person of Color"(I'm not black, I'm hispanic) in a way that suggested he was encountering a new phenomena that he had never had to deal with before.

African-Anglo?

African Briton

I guess, I mean idk.

Political correctness is anthropoligical incorrectness. Sharpton, Jackson, Smith, Luther King, Rock, the list goes on and on. They're not African American they're Anglo-Saxon Americans that happen to be BLACK. I'm not Caucasian, I don't have ancestors that lived in the Caucusus mountains I'm WHITE. In Europe that's how it is we're either black or white and we get along for the most part. African-English is indeed correct though.

Don't call them Englishman/woman unless you're sure they come from that part
of Britain. My great Grandmother called them darky. Not used in an intentionally offensive manner, i.e. "who is your nurse?" "the darky".
It's just skin colour, so using colour words like black and white is OK, how can that be offensive?

Well maybe thats cool over there, but if you were to say darky in the states. Bad things would happen my friend.

I like the Anglo-Angolan one...

Try it when you're a bit pissed.

just stick to their names and you'll be okay...

most blacks that i have met in america that get pissy over what title you get their ethnicity do so bc they want some form of recognition for what their ancestors went through, which is absolutely ridiculous consisdering the fact that they seem to want to be treated equal but yet they fall back on the racism card.

and the inteligent ones prefer to be called blacks

to answer the question...
blacks in europe tend to have more respect for society as a whole so it shouldnt matter what you call them as long as it doesnt fall under the category of obsenities. through personal experience in both nations if they do have a preference they will correct you politely in most cases in england and swear at you in the u.s. for being racist and inconsiderate.

Mccain, did it dawn on you that maybe he WAS encountering something he never had before? Or that he was being polite, so that in future conversation he wouldnt offend. People have different regional preference for what word to use.

My grandfather started calling them 'darkies' after meeting an African-Merkin serviceman in WWII, who very politely pointed out that the word 'nigger' was considered offensive. My grandfather and his pals apparently had no idea that this was the case. And no, it's not cool in the U.K. to call people 'darkies', but if someone over the age of eighty uses such a word, I don't think that makes them a racist. I don't think my grandfather hated anybody, he was just a total shithead....

I've always thought that 'black' and 'white' were odd terms to describe people who are actually brown and creamy-pink....

The problem arises because Anglo and Affro Sound so good, and are both prefixes. I sugest an "Anglo-African"

Before this goes any furthur; You do all know what the prefix "Anglo" actually means right?

What I don't understand is that the term African American, at least in my mind, denotes someone who descends from the black culture which developed in America over the past few hundred years. By that understanding, Barack Obama is no more an African American than an Englishman emigrating to America today is a Pilgrim.

I am English and live in London.

The answer to the question is no, we don't refer to black people as African-English or anything like that. One of the reasons for this is that there are lots of 'real' Africans living in the UK today; Somalis, Nigerians, Ghanians, who were born in those countries. They would be called Africans because they ARE Africans. To call them Anglo-African or African-British or anything similar would be inaccurate and inappropriate.

Then there are lots of British black people who were born here and whose parents or grandparents came over in the 50's, 60's and 70's. They are called British, because they ARE British. To call them African-English or Anglo-African or any other such hyphenated creation would be inappropriate because they are likely to take offence; the suggestion is that they are somehow different and considered alien to the indigenous population.

Black British people are generally long-assimilated into the culture of this country - calling them Africans is likely to be taken as racist. Furthermore it's a rather dumb assumption anyway, as most of the first wave of immigration was from the West Indies, particularly Jamaica. To say that families with their roots in Jamaica are 'African' is to dismiss any identity that being Jamaican entails.

Basically it's one hell of a minefield and one of the ways that British people avoid upsetting each other about race is to avoid discussing it altogether.... at least not in public.

I think the term "African-American" arose in America 1) As an alternative to the terms in use used to address people of' different heritage, all of them in some way offensive or used in discriminatory ways. 2) To distinguish a cultural grouping.

This is an important point, as Blacks in America lost their native tribal cultures when they were brought over en masse and forced into assimilating Judeo-Christian culture and religion (yes, forced); and intermingling with people of totally different cultures. From this developed a unique cross-culture of Africa and America (Blues music is a simplistic examples, having both African and American roots) However, they have never been a part of 'mainstream' culture, and have rather developed a unique culture of 'African-American' here unlike any culture any where else. So I think 'African-American' is an appropriate term when referring to a socio-cultural group, as opposed to an African, or generically 'Black.'

I think it rather ridiculous that we label people as (ethnic/national origin/ancestry)-American. I'm American, not British-French-Dutch-German-Irish-American. Besides, that would take too long to say. We are American, just as in the UK you are British.

Feckless Cod - I object to you calling me and my anscestors, and people I'm not related to in the slightest but who may resemble me in appearence - and I'm only refering to my skin color, not my large nose or unusually large penis for that matter, as "Creamy Pink". That sounds so freaking gay - but I'm not homophomic by the way - you know what? Fuck PC bullshit! Creamy pink does sound gay and I aint no queer fag!!!And I aint british in the Diplommacy - British = Creamy Pink kinda way ... oh whatever, I've3 probably lost this argument already ... I'm so non-PC!

I do think "darky" is kinda funny tough ... te he he he

I think Feckless Cod is Creamy Pink!!!!

No. You don't lose an argument until you call your opponent a Nazi.

Godwin's Law!!!!

Dont you think this thing is going a bit overboard?

PC is something the bleeding heart liberals thought of just so they could make more money. It's as simple as that.

And it doesnt matter where you were born, the bloodline doesnt change.
If your parents were caucasian/white youre caucasian/white
if your parents were african/black then youre african/black
If your parents were asian then youre asian.

People have really got to stop getting so finicky... I mean in the real sense who gives a damn??

@CJ 92: You're a Nazi

black. call them black.
if someone is personally offended by being called black, work that out with them

I try not to offend people but all the pc bullshit is really pissing me off.
theres a difference between being culturally insensitive, or a racist, and not knowing the latest lingo.
being pc changes more often than a teeny boppers fashion style

@El Perro Artero That's not funny.

The official terms used by UK local government and schools to monitor ethnic numbers are BCRB for Black Barribean and BSOM for Black Somalian and BOAF for Black Other: African

The main issue I have with this thread is Americans asking what Brits call Black British people and then wondering if they cakll then Black Englishmen...

Quick lesson for Yanks: England is to Britain what California or New York are to the US... Namely a part. Undoubtedly with 44 million out of 60 million, England is the most populous part of Britain, but it is separate from and more distinct from Scotland and Wales than New Hampshire and Vermont are from one another. Your question about colour is anchored in US race politics and just doesn't cross the Atlantic. Black people in the UK would identify themselves as being Scottish or English before they would identify themselves as being Black-anything I think.

Quick less for pompous British: While 'Yank' may mean something entirely different over there, 'Yank' does not mean 'American' over here. If you want to berate someone for using an American term and applying it to British standards, please check your American idioms before you post.

'lesson' that is.

Just out of curiousity, does the average Scot or Welshman feel there is equivalency between them and an Englishman? Between Scotland and England? I think one of the reasons for the resurgence of the Scottish independence movement was precisely because that was not the case, so I'm not sure the comparison of California holds, as there are no legitimate independence movements here (except for Puerto Rico) though I'm sure the next 8 posters will point to fringe movements they consider legitimate.

Dingleberry I was being ironic in referring to y'all as Yanks... but I forgot that you don't have irony on that side of the pond.

The comparison with England and California is simply that England is a constituent part of the UK and not synonymous with Britain.

As for independence the ironic thing is that while 30% of Scots want to be independent from the UK, 67% of English people want Scotland to eff off... but then the English do pay all the bills.

Blackheath, I don't believe for a minute you were trying to be ironic, but you are trying to use that as cover now. 'Yank' over there means an American. But an American frm Alabama would no more think that term applies to him tham would a Mongolian. You used a local term and tried to apply it to another country, just like the original poster.

Scottish independence had a resurgence when we started drilling oil in the North Sea. Now it's winding down, the Jocks are wondering where all the money's going to come from. They've got a great deal anyway:- they all get two MP's for the price of one. And one of them is running the country, i.e. all of Britain.

I am English and consider Scotland as very much part of my country. I go there and visit my relatives quite frequently. It's the most attractive part of the UK landscape.

I've been living in Germany most of my life but I am a Scot and have a lot of relatives there.
Polar Bear is correct when he points out that a lot of Scots are/were pissed that all the scottish oil money went to London.
The secondhand information that I have says that even without the oil more money woulf flow south than north but I don't know if money that's spent on stuff like embassies overseas and troops in Iraq, Afghanistan..., should be counted as going to London so politicians could probably spin it any way they wanted.

BTW: Even though some Scots think they have to support anyone over England, I support England unless they're playing Germany or another brittish team.

I'm not creamy pink. My ancestors were Maltese. I think RoteBaron doth protest too much, and is probably one of them mohosexuals.

Feckless, Some people are gay... get over it.

"Gay" means bad in any way possible nowadays. How lovely the butchering of a language is. Moving on, whites are white and blacks are black end of.

In America, blacks don't want to be 'blacks'. They want to be African-American. Who are you to tell them otherwise?

I'm a white that dosen't want to be caucasian.

Whats wrong with just black, or better yet, just don't refer to people by their ethnicity at all, try learning names.

For the record, I have no problem whatsoever with RoteBaron being a creamy-pink shirt lifter. So long as he doesn't want to touch my bottom or anything.

Only people that want to disciminate in a political correct way, ask such a question.

Referring to an ethnicity is not a bad thing. Most people are proud of their heritage, culture, language, etc. So you need words to describe them. There is nothing wrong with me saying 'I want to go to a Mexican restaurant'. It would get unwieldy to say 'I want to go to a restaurant where they have a mariachi band and serve tacos'. Or visiting Chinatown. Would you rather me say 'i want to go to the place where all teh people have a darker complexion and slanty eyes?' Or can I say Chinatown.

feckless, I'm sure noone wants to touch your anything!