Mixed Lingo - Part 3

Even More Mixed Lingo!

Hey mixed friends!  Let's keep the ball rolling and expand our vocabulary!  (We're such good students, aren't we?) :P  Here are even more multiracial- and multiethnic-related terms!  (Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

Mixed Terms for your Reading Pleasure

Blended: Another word for "mixed."  

However you chose to identify is completely up to you.  In "Growing Up Mixed" posts, I use the two of them interchangeably.


Exoticism: The attractiveness of the "exotic" mix within a multiracial and/or multiethnic person is "exoticism" by the other person.  A good way to explain "exoticism" is to use examples: 

• "Half ______ and half _______ people are so pretty/beautiful/sexy!"
• "I want to have kids with a _________ person so our babies would be really cute!"
• "Mixed/multiracial _________ are hot!"

While being told that someone thinks how you identify is attractive might sounds nice, that's still a broad generalization about everyone who identifies that way.  Even if it sounds like an appraisal, comments like these still have elements of racism.

Hapa: According to MixedFolks.com, "hapa" was originally a Hawaiian word that meant "half Hawaiian. ... Today, 'Hapa' is simply accepted as a way to describe a person of partial Asian ancestry" (MixedFolks.com).

That's it for this installment of the "Mixed Lingo" series.  Are there any words or phrases related to multiracial, multiethnic, blended people and issues that you'd like to see on out list?  Let us know!

Feel free to leave a comment or question in the response box below if you'd like to connect with the "Growing Up Mixed" community.  As always, this is a safe space.

Enjoy the company of friends!

<3 Elise "The Mixed Blogging Chick"