A European friend of mine told me that when she heard someone denigrating the French, she accused him of making a racist remark.
To me, it wasn't. But if I got her reasoning right, she saw little or no difference between "race" and "ethnicity".

What do you all think?

I think there is a very fine line between Race and Ethnicity.

Race once categorised people by appearance, skin colour, hair type, bone structure etc.... hereditary factors. But with inter-racial breading these lines are getting blurred.

Ethnicity is more about how a group feel, like cultural factors, tradition, language and beliefs.

I have trouble when ask the question of Race on official forms...I struggle over the answer as European or Caucasian doesn't sit right with me and I usually fill in the box with my county of birth, NZ.

I certainly remember back in the Gulf War, when France would
not join the anti-Saddam coalition, there was a very strong
anti-French feeling in this country, even to the point of
changing names of things, e.g. "french fries" to 'freedom fries'.

I have trouble when ask the question of Race on official forms...I struggle over the answer as European or Caucasian doesn't sit right with me and I usually fill in the box with my county of birth, NZ.


I have that difficulty too, especially in a country that is such
a mix. I check "Other" and put in something like "European
American", though that does not always fit, because I have
an Indian grandmother (and she preferred to be called that.)

A friend of mine finds those questions "offensive" because of the labelling and so always insists on checking every single box...because "you never know, it's probably around somewhere in my ancestry, and if not then i have nothing against any of them"

And that makes a certain amount of sense. Consider adoptions
where 2-3 generations later no one knows the "ethnicity" of
some great-grandparent. How cultures mingle. Eastern
Europe is another example. How "races", or whatever you want
to call them, mingled when hey were overrun by Poles, Russians,
Germans, Prussians, Lithuanians, whatever, and they come to
the US. What is their "ethnicity" really.

the question of Race on official forms...I struggle over the answer as European There are forms that list European as a race???

Edit: let me add that I am not saying that's wrong; but I started this thread in a serious effort to see what people of other countries and cultures think of as race; to me, "European" is absolutely not a race of people.

Well, yes Jackie, in this country downunder.....

Tuesday night is CENSUS time...and I just check the question that is usually about race. You will be pleased to see it now asks
Question 18 What is the persons ancestry?

But then is "African", or "Asian" a race either? Jordan and
Japan are Asian nations, as are Russians and Chinese. What
does the form mean? So I'd answer European American, because
to me that means about as much as African American. Morocco
and Botswana? Egypt and Kenya? Libya and Gabon? If they move
here, become citizens, are they all African American? All those
countries are on the African Continent.

I would say white, black, probably Asian not Oriental these days, and Indian (US Indians, not India Indians) and Eskimo. I know these don't come near covering everybody. I don't have THE answer(s). I have used the term Polynesian because I think it sounds better than 'people with light brown skin', etc.; but to me, the term race indicates peoples' physical characteristics, not where they are from.

I think I've seen "Oceanic" or Pacific Islander or some such
thing for what you call Polynesian. But Polynesian does not
cover the bases there because there is Micronesian, Melanesian,
and Indonesian, among others.

I just check a random box...I am sure it applies somehow.
My friend (who is very 'black') and I have always introduced each other as 'this is my sister...' and have actually had people ask us, 'Are you really sisters?' to which our standard reply is, 'We had different mothers,' which, while being the truth, is not the whole truth.

Like the old song: "I am my own Grandpa".