From: Rick McCallister
Message: 60196
Date: 2008-09-21
At 6:04:35 PM on Saturday, September 20, 2008, Arnaud
Fournet wrote:
[...]
> I have never seen this meaning of Creole : "a person of<http://www.merriam- webster.com/ dictionary/ Creole>
> European ancestry born in the colonies."
In Spanish, criollo "creole" usually refers to something "homespun, local" or a "hillbilly version" of something. Local cattle are referred to "ganado criollo". During Colonial times, the criollos were people of (obstensibly) European ancesry born and raised in the Americas. The majority Hispanic population (or the majority of those in power) are still referred to as criollo --which now refers to "off-white" rather than any notions of "pure European."