Economist Style Guide - Redress Information & Analysis

part 1: the essence of style
ethnic groups Your fi rst concern should be to avoid giving offence.
But also avoid mealy-mouthed euphemisms and terms that have
not generally caught on despite promotion by pressure-groups.
Ethnic meaning concerning nations or races, or even something
ill-defi ned in between, is a useful word. But do not be shy of race
and racial. After several years in which race was seen as a purely
social concept, not a scientifi c one, the term is coming back among
scientists as a shorthand way of speaking about genetic rather than
cultural or political differences. See also political correctness.
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Anglo-Saxon is not a synonym for English-speaking. Neither the
United States nor Australia is an Anglo-Saxon country; nor is
Britain. Anglo-Saxon capitalism does not exist.
Asians In Britain, but nowhere else, Asians is often used to mean
immigrants and their descendants from the Indian subcontinent.
Many such people are coming to dislike the term, and many
foreigners must assume it means people from all over Asia, so
take care. Note that, even in the usage peculiar to Britain, Asian
is not synonymous with Muslim.
blacks In many countries, including the United States, many
black people are happy to be called blacks, although some
prefer to be African-Americans. Black is shorter and more
straightforward, but use either.
mixed race Do not call people who are neither pure white nor
pure black browns. People of mixed race in South Africa are
Coloureds.
other groups The inhabitants of Azerbaijan are Azerbaijanis, some
of whom, but not all, are Azeris. Those Azeris who live in
other places, such as Iran, are not Azerbaijanis. Similarly, many
Croats are not Croatian, many Serbs not Serbian, many Uzbeks
not Uzbekistanis, etc.
Spanish-speakers in the US When writing about Spanishspeaking
people in the United States, use either Latino or
Hispanic as a general term, but try to be specifi c (eg, Mexican-
American). Many Latin Americans (eg, those from Brazil) are
not Hispanic.