I thought expat was coined by Hemingway ?
Do you guys ever google:
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing, as an immigrant, in a country other than that of their citizenship. The word comes from the Latin terms ex (“out of”) and patria (“country, fatherland”).
Expat was presumably coined in a world where there were it was primarily white Americans and Europeans working at companies or embassies or assistance projects in developing countries. They were long-term residents, and most were highly paid at least by local standards, but most expected to return eventually to their country of origin, and a few decided to stay permanently or retire there. Most either did not or only partially absorbed the local culture and so they were in some sense distinct and separate the locals, but almost always well-off in comparison to the typical local.
With immigrants in developed countries, there often wasn’t much expectation of returning to the country of origin, and there often wasn’t a kind of privileged position for them either culturally or economically. It is true that many immigrants (legal or otherwise) did remain culturally separate.
But the world has changed a lot since that idea was developed. Presumably there are Chinese and Indian expats in the US and/or Europe who expect to move back to their countries sometime and who are well paid and similarly have a foot in both their home culture and their surrounding culture. There are some aspects of the term that might apply to ordinary immigrants, but most immigrants do not seem to arrive with the experience of being privileged within the adopted community.
Words and situations evolve over time, but it seems to me that the experience of being a relatively powerful foreigner staying long-term but likely not permanently in another cultural environment is fairly key to the meaning, and it’s why one doesn’t tend to apply it to just any immigrant.
Indeed, the cognitive dissonance is blatant and then some people are shocked why concepts like safe space gained so much traction.
Absolutely, this is the crux of the definition in common parlance. Even if according to the technical definition illegal Mexicans are expats, describing them in those terms to your average American would leave them heavily confused. Build a wall to keep the expats out just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
So my lawn crew is made up of expats? I don’t think so.
Expatriate literally means people who live in a different country from where they have their citizenship. This is the actual definition of the term, so the old white guy was absolutely correct. Arguments like “oh, I don’t think it is commonly used” do not change this correctness, especially when westerners living abroad *are* commonly called expats.
STL: your Hispanic or whatever lawn guys are expatriates. The term usually just refers to people who come from prestigious countries.
My lawn guys are white dudes in their late teens and early 20’s from the other side of town.
Way to stereotype. My landscapers are from Switzerland and they wear lederhosen while grooming my lawn.
Too much information.
Does Drew Bledsoe qualify as an expat?
No, once a Pat always a Pat (unless you sucked as a Pat). Right ltj?
Agree with Monkey, it’s less about skin color and more about being a foreigner in Asia. I have a childhood friend who is Chinese but born and raised in the US and went to Hong Kong after college to become an actor. Since then he’s become quite successful, starred in a few big name movies and has his own wikipedia page, fan club, etc. He’s constantly in the tabloids for b@nging hot Chinese actresses and models. I went over there to visit him a while back and he said that women over there can tell you’re a foreigner by the way you dress, your hairstyle, your mannerisms, etc. without even hearing you speak. It’s only icing on the cake if you stroll up to some chick and start speaking in English to her. He said even when he wasn’t famous he could get to the front of any line or get any girl’s attention just by acting “American” even though he was Chinese by ethnicity.
I have another female friend who is Chinese and works in Hong Kong and she pretty much confirmed this concept. She said there’s also a pecking order among Chinese men in Hong Kong in terms of what Chinese women desire. At the top of the pyramid are American-born Chinese (aka “ex-pats” per the discussion above), followed by Chinese from other non-Asian countries, followed by Hong Kong-born-and-raised Chinese, and at the very bottom are Chinese men from mainland China, who Hong Kong Chinese women stereotype as crude and uneducated.