Let's just call a Brazilian a Brazilian

Why don't Brazilians just identify as Brazilians? (''Do we fit here?" City Weekly, July 17) Is it because they think of themselves as Latin Americans?

But the word ''Latino" commonly refers to Spanish-speaking Latin Americans. The Italians and French never identify as being Latino, but as Latins, which means something else in the context of Europe.

''Hispanic" means properly someone from the Iberian Peninsula, where five major language groups live, one of which, Basque, is not Latino.

Why not just identify by country of origin? Or ''Spanish-speaking Latino" or ''Portuguese-speaking Latino" (then name the country).

The problem stems from the words ''Latino" and ''Hispanic" being used in geographical, cultural, and linguistic senses to refer to the same person without making the distinctions that people feel necessary to make a proper and accurate definition.

My friends in Latin America and Spain identify themselves first by their country of origin: Colombia, Brazil, Spain, Uruguay. They don't lump themselves together as Hispanics or Latinos.

I believe that this is our hang-up. It's like de Gaulle lumping Americans, Brits, etc. together as ''les AngloSaxons."

Oh, OK. It's a form of stereotyping or shorthand for a perceived cultural or linguistic group that in fact are many different groups of people. Who ever heard of a generic Latina cuisine?

ED FRANKS
West Roxbury