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The phrase 'Race/Ethnicity' or "Race/Ethnic Origin" is used throughout various data reporting. It just looks so odd with a '/' slash. Any alternatives? Here are a few examples of the slash in 'real life'

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Why not just use one or the other if you don't like that slash? "Ethnic origin", though, it probably more appropriate since race is not really a well-defined construct. – stoicfury Dec 5 '11 at 18:57
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I think this rather belongs to English Langusage & Usage. – Count Zero Dec 5 '11 at 19:08
@brian, consider rephrasing the question to ask if there is a better label for web forms or reports. The way you have it now does point to a question of English Usage. – tajmo Dec 5 '11 at 20:24
Agree, it's more of an English Language & Usage question, but the mods on that site aren't interested in having it migrated. Unless you have data showing that it's significant problem, I don't think it's worth worrying about. – Patrick McElhaney Dec 5 '11 at 21:28

closed as off topic by Patrick McElhaney Dec 5 '11 at 21:28

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Trying to be clever can sometimes be confusing.

If people are conditioned to see race, why break the convention?

Deferring to the Census Bureau, and how they present race:

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ipmtext.php?fl=24

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For our certified emr, we had to list Ethnicity and Race separately, using those exact census descriptions. – LarsTech Dec 5 '11 at 20:06
up vote 1 down vote

Ethnicity is the proper term. But, to be perfectly honest, many people don't know what 'Ethnicity' means. Race is a far more common (if less accurate) word used to describe this. Combining the two words reaches the broadest audience, despite it's clunky nature.

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