Friday, July 3, 2009

White Other


I was filling out a registration form recently to access information on a U.K. government website, when I was asked to indicate my ethnic group. You know the old saying that England and the U.S. are two countries separated by a common language? It appears we're separated by more than just that. Check out the list...


Which ethnic group would you describe yourself as being in?

White British
White Irish
White Other

Black British
Black Caribbean
Black African
Other Black background

Asian British
Chinese
Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Other Asian background

White & Asian
White & Black African
White & Black Caribbean

Other mixed background
Other ethnic group

Prefer not to say


This list tells you a lot about the U.K. and the history of the British Empire, doesn't it? I'm guessing the 2010 U.S. Census will have different choices.

2 comments:

  1. Arnold,

    Wow, quite a list of choices there. I always self-identify as "other" or "prefer not to say" if those are listed as options. I'm waiting for the day when the list only includes two options:

    ---------------
    -Human
    -Other

    ---------------
    Derek

    ReplyDelete
  2. One is left to wonder what the British government does with the data.

    ReplyDelete