what does "caucasian" mean ?

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Simple_Joys@reddit

Taken literally, it should just mean people from the Caucus mountains; which would actually be a fairly ethnically diverse groups of Eurasian peoples. In reality in the modern day, it is a politically-loaded term which is almost exclusive used as shorthand to mean 'White and of European descent'. Either way, it is not a term used in the UK anymore. It is absolute Yank nonsense at best, and honestly just weird eugenicist drivel at worst.

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Robertinho678@reddit

This is nonsense, it definitely is still used in the UK. It's just the scientific term for white. There's nothing eugenicist about it either, don't be silly.

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

Find a modern scientific paper using it. I'll wait.

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Robertinho678@reddit

I stand corrected, TIL it's not scientific, and not used where I live (UK)

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

Hey big respect for that!

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Robertinho678@reddit

No worries, thanks for correcting me!

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escoces@reddit

No it is not. It is never used in the UK and it is not an accepted scientific name anywhere, not even the USA. Where do you get this utter pish from?

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Robertinho678@reddit

I stand corrected, TIL it's not scientific, and not used where I live (UK)

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Pristine_Speech4719@reddit

Caucasus mountains.

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Spiritual_Loss_7287@reddit

A mainly US term for white and people from Caucasus area.

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Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

A lot of UK companies use it also, even police reports and hospitals

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escoces@reddit

No they do not. It is absolutely never used in any official capacity in the UK.

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Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

I can assure you that they very much always have and do

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

Find anything authoritative using it and show us.

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Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

Go find it yourself? Every official document even police reports say it.

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

Great! That means it'll be easy to find one. Still waiting

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MadJohnFinn@reddit

Filed a police report today. “White” was the term used throughout. Go on - you made the claim, so defend it properly.

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Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

So you can just randomly say it’s not without proof and that’s that?

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chris--p@reddit

Just admit you're wrong. The onus is on you to provide proof.

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MadJohnFinn@reddit

Prove your positive before asking someone to prove a negative, [but here you go.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_code) Your move.

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ldn-ldn@reddit

If you don't have proofs then you're wrong.

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Farsydi@reddit

IC1 is the official designation and most forms use White - British, White - Irish or White - Other. Causasian is NEVER used by reputable sources.

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LeadershipAble773@reddit

Where? I live in the uk and do my fair share of official documents and ive never seen it on any form or anything ive ever filled out

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escoces@reddit

Utter drivel.

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Spiritual_Loss_7287@reddit

IC1 is the term used in the UK.

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Awkward-Pen-8428@reddit

The russians are spoiling us today

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OddPerspective9833@reddit

From the Caucasus

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abfgern_@reddit

It's American for "white person"

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SisterRayRomano@reddit

Outdated way of saying ‘white’

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ldn-ldn@reddit

Chechens.

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Sandman1812@reddit

Are you not from the UK, then?

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Alone_Mail7632@reddit (OP)

no

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Dramatic-Ad-4607@reddit

American ?

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Alone_Mail7632@reddit (OP)

no I was having a discussion with my friend and he said that the word Caucasian is mostly used for people from that area, but I think it is used mostly for white people and it's in America, but I want to see what other English speaking countries use it for. I am Jordanian BTW.

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Dramatic-Ad-4607@reddit

Fair enough mate i apologise for the assumption

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L-0-T-H-0-S@reddit

I actually hear the term *Caucasian* to be something entirely separate from the description white. When used commonly, say in a context of law enforcement,, the descriptor white is *added* to the term Caucasian. Caucasian itself doesn't necessarily mean *white* when applied to a human being - Caucasian is a term applied to people of an actually wide ethnic diversity, including people of colour, including black. Though the actual term Caucasian is based entirely on a misconstrued idea of some idealised "cradle" of humanity, it didn't and actually doesn't distinguish between people of white ethnicity and black - that's something modern day misusage, not so much of thecterm but certain people's limited misunderstanding of it, to assume it's a synonym for meaning "white" exclusively, particularly endemic tongue United States. Caucasian doesn't mean "White"and never did.

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throwaway_outcast23@reddit

White

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kilgore_trout1@reddit

Depending on context either: 1. White Or 2. From the Caucuses.

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MojoMomma76@reddit

I mean this is literally the right answer

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No-Shoe5382@reddit

And even when being used to mean white, it comes from the idea that white people originally came from the Caucuses (i.e. that was the first place they migrated to from Africa and then spread out from there around Europe and Russia etc) Which is historically true for some white people but not all of them.

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dbxp@reddit

Apparently that's not true, the guy who came up with the name was a phrenologist and just happened to have a Georgian skull [https://www.etymonline.com/word/Caucasian](https://www.etymonline.com/word/Caucasian)

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No-Shoe5382@reddit

Yeah that's what I said lol. Its true for some white people but not all. And true for some Asian people as well, so it's not a good descriptor of *all* white people and *exclusively* white people.

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AndreasDasos@reddit

*Caucasus. Caucuses is the plural of caucus, a committee of senior political party members

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Electrical_Trade377@reddit

cork enthusiast/hobbyist/collector depending on level of interest

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Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

Hate the word, I wish they would just write white

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

They do 😂 or ic1/ic2

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Success_With_Lettuce@reddit

Why? How would you describe an Asian then? I ask because the variation in facial features varies quite a bit from west to east. Would you call them off-white or similar, maybe orange? Another colour? No.. I’m only saying that because I want you to think more; categorise another group as broad as “Caucasian” with a colour, can’t say black, because that is too broad, doesn’t specify.

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Pale_Slide_3463@reddit

I don’t think you have filled out a lot of forms

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sakmentoloki@reddit

That was alot of words for no real reason

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AddWid@reddit

White for people who want to sound smarter than they are.

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

And ironically it makes them sound just as dumb as they are.

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YouCantArgueWithThis@reddit

It's basically the white race.

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ClarifyingMe@reddit

Misused word to mean white when it doesn't mean that.

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Robertinho678@reddit

It's just the scientific word for the race that originated from Europe, so North Americans (not native), Australians (not Aboriginal people), and Europeans. In other words, people of European descent.

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ProsodySpeaks@reddit

No it's not a scientific term.

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HarissaPorkMeatballs@reddit

Usually I think of this exchange from the Taika Waititi film Hunt for the Wilderpeople: "Faulkner is cauc-asian." "Well they've got that wrong, 'cause you're obviously white."

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fionsichord@reddit

So many lines from that movie live in my head, waiting to leap out. For example, whenever we have sausages someone says “wanna sausage?” in a Kiwi accent 🤣

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marquoth_@reddit

It means my mate George. George and nobody else.

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prustage@reddit

1. American, totally misguided racial classification of white-skinned people according to an obsolete C18th system that has been disproved, condemned, ridiculed and abandoned by scientists internationally. 2. To do with a range of mountains in Southern Russia.

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mrstickles@reddit

A dumb term meant to mean “white”. As someone who comes from the Caucasus region & is constantly made to feel “othered” in this country, despite being white (but not as pale as some Brits), I find it laughable

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dbxp@reddit

That you're likely to call black people African Americans even if they have nothing to do with America

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Dramatic-Ad-4607@reddit

Americanisation

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nomodsman@reddit

The guy who coined it was German genius.

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Dramatic-Ad-4607@reddit

The people who bang on about it and use it all the time especially to be insulting are Americans

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devlin1888@reddit

I heard the word for the first few times in a southern American drawl and thought they were talking about Cocky Asians

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DotCottonsHandbag@reddit

When I hear it, I think it’s someone who’s spent too much time on the internet and is adopting American terms that aren’t really used outside of the USA. It also reminds me of that American reporter who kept trying to call Kriss Akabusi African-American when interviewing him.

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StereotypicallBarbie@reddit

I can’t hear it and not hear grandad from only fools and horses.. “Was he Caucasian” “Oh no! He was a white fella”

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idreaminlowercase@reddit

White people

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TheVentiLebowski@reddit

Slang for a [White Russian](https://youtu.be/aFy0XSDdQ00?si=V98VFELEIHd0Jobg) cocktail.

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Infamous_Telephone55@reddit

I remember a funny scene from Only Fools and Horses when Grandad was being interviewed by the police, the asked him "Was he Caucasian?" and Grandad said "Oh no, he was a white fella". Whenever I hear the word Caucasian now, it always reminds me of that.

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Bloxxerboi@reddit

It's when your dick is asian

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beernon@reddit

We don’t use this term casually in the UK. Maybe among police?

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Sea-Still5427@reddit

Think they say IC1 and 2.

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TSC-99@reddit

White

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Starcatz05@reddit

Generally, an average Americans way of saying of “white”. But if there’s even a lick of real culture or understanding in the context, I’ll assume they mean actual Caucasian people from the Caucasus.

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MagicBez@reddit

Back when Victorians created "race theory" they decided there were three "races". Caucasian was one of them, the names of the other two I don't particularly fancy writing out. Needless to say everyone dropped those terms as unscientific nonsense many years ago except for the US which decided to keep using that one. Possibly because their history meant they had a lot of race theory encoded into their laws and society and it was harder to shake off. ...it used to be somewhat commonplace in Australia too but I believe all official use was dropped a while ago

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Martipar@reddit

IC1

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TheOneWithoutGorm@reddit

I see a few today

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bio_d@reddit

It’s a term from early work splitting humans into five races - Origin and meaning of Caucasian by Etymonline https://www.etymonline.com/word/Caucasian So a bit old fashioned really.

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Party_Advantage_3733@reddit

It's an archaic term meaning 'white person' coined by some guy who thought white people originated from the caucuses for no clear reason.

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Ambitious-Poet4992@reddit

Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan and Russia. That or white person

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Adventurous_Pie6362@reddit

Someone from west Asia.

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Drwynyllo@reddit

An obsolete racial classification.

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AeroHawc@reddit

Usually white. Although originally it means from the Caucasus mountains area (Georgia). Lots of racism behind the original idea and trying to make white people seem superior.

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Caucausian mountain area - nice dogs from thereabouts.

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Working-Forever-97@reddit

My brain-voice reads it in a unsettling American accent Corkayshann

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15BuksLittleMan@reddit

"How would you describe the assailant?" The only time ive ever heard it used is when it involves a crime.

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funkmachine7@reddit

Race based profileing, usealy from the yanks

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