Latine!

Latinx: The concept is fine, the word is ugly

Latinx is a new word for the twenty-first century and fills a real need, but in its present form is abhorrent to the beauty of the Spanish language, which I believe to be one of the most euphonious and elegant in the world.

We should replace latinx with latine, which you can pronounce any way you like: “lah-teen-uh” or “lah teen” or “la ti ne” (in Spanish).

The e is a happy medium between the a in latina and the o in latino — having a progression of vowels feels more natural not just in Spanish but in most European languages.

It naturally pronounces correctly. In English you would naturally pronounce latinx as “la-tinks” (analogous to “minx”, “hijinx”, etc), but latina as “la-teen-ah”.

But latine naturally reads in English as having the same first vowel sound as latina/o.

(You know, I’d never heard anyone say latinx so I didn’t even know if it’s pronounced “la-tinks” or “la-teenks”. Turns out it’s pronounced “La-teen-ecks”, which is just horrible — it sounds like some superhero.)

The best part? You can start using it now, and everyone will understand you! That’s right — if you say latine, listeners will in context understand you meant latina or latino automatically, because it sounds like you just rushed the last syllable, and people do that all the time — you’ll never have to explain yourself.

Compared with the stone-crunchy bitterness in the center of latina, latinx, latino, how sweet and smooth is latina, latine, latino?

Latine now! Later you can truthfully say you did it before it was cool.