Vocabulary of appearance

[Carlhya]

Hi! I have a question: how do you call the people whose skin is darker than Americans.
Is it possible to say that a person is brown? or can you use brunette as to refer to hair and skin?

 

[english-nation]

You have to be careful with what you say and who you say it to. No ethnic group that I know of would like to be called "brown". There are no "brown people" or "browns" in America.

The term "black" is used more frequently to describe a person of African heritage, but the most accepted term is "African-American".

"Brunette" is only used in reference to hair.

Pat

 

[SoothingDave]

The preferred term today to encompass both blacks and Latinos is "persons of color."

 

[Carlhya]

Thanks for the clarification...In fact, I want to know the term when you want to describe people. She's tall, she's thin and she's brunette. (She's Mexican) Maybe I could say the nationality instead of the color of the skin...What do you think? Would it be better?

 

[SoothingDave]

Latina.

 

[Barb_D]

We do refer to complexions, though. You could say someone has a dark complexion, an olive complexion, skin like cafe-au-lait, etc.


To confuse matters, I have two coworkers whose skin tones pass each other in darkness depending on the time of year. My African-American friend is very light-skinned and wears sunscreen, while my Greek friend is a worships the sun and gets very dark. In August, she's actually darker.

 

[Carlhya]

:-D Thanks everybody for your useful comments!!! Those are and will be really helpful!!!....:up: