Africa

Question

Africa is like Mexico for African Americans. Or

Africa is like Mexico for White Americans.

I'm trying to say Africa to African American is like Mexico to White Americans. This is only a theory, so please overanalyze it. Please help w/ my train of thought. Thank you. Which sentence above has the right implications?

Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Neither meaning is clear to me.
What are you trying to say? eg Are you talking about people's origins?

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

I'm not following you on this one.

How is Africa to African Americans? Is it something like a homeland, maybe? The place that their great great grandparents lived?

So then how is Mexico to white Americans? Their homeland? Where their ancestors lived? No. That doesn't make sense.

You can express this as
Africa is to African Americans as Mexico is to white Americans.

That's grammatically correct, but as I said above, it is very difficult to understand its meaning.

CJ

PreciousJones · Answer

Africa is like Mexico for African Americans.

This is the one I'm looking for.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Africa is like Mexico for African Americans.

This is the one I'm looking for.

Precious, this just seems completely wrong.

I see no real meaning at all in this.
It suggests that Mexico has some great significance for African-Americans.
But it hasn't..

Clive.

PreciousJones · Answer

CliveHi,Africa is like Mexico for African Americans.This is the one I'm looking for.Precious, this just seems completely wrong.I see no real meaning at all in this.It suggests that Mexico has some great significance for African-Americans. But it hasn't..Clive.

Some African Americans go to Africa for vacation or move there for work and it's like when Americans go to Mexico for Spring break.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Some African Americans go to Africa for vacation or move there for work and it's like when Americans go to Mexico for Spring break.

That meaning is not in what you said.

Some problems in your sentence include -

You need to mention the Americans who go to Mexico.
You need to remember that African-Americans are Americans too.

Finally, I don't think it's true that Africa is a vacation destination for a lot of African-Americans. However, truth and grammar are two different topics. I know you said not to over-analyze this aspect.

You need to say something like this.
Africa is to African Americans ,as Mexico is to white Americans for Spring break.

Clive

Khoff · Answer

Are you trying to say that Africa is to African-Americans the same as Mexico is to Mexican-Americans?  Otherwise I don't see any way the comparison makes logical sense.  Grammar is one thing, but there's not too much point constructing grammatically correct sentences that make no sense ("Dolphins are to ashtrays as lampshades are to bicycles" is fine grammatically, but makes no sense.)

PreciousJones · Answer

khoffAre you trying to say that Africa is to African-Americans the same as Mexico is to Mexican-Americans? Otherwise I don't see any way the comparison makes logical sense. Grammar is one thing, but there's not too much point constructing grammatically correct sentences that make no sense ("Dolphins are to ashtrays as lampshades are to bicycles" is fine grammatically, but makes no sense.)

It's along the lines of that.

JohnParis · Answer

Are you trying to say that:
The feeling African Americans get when they visit Africa is similar to that of what white Americans get when visiting Mexico? A sense of ....?
Whatever the sense these groups feel, the sentence seems stereotypical and really makes no sense to me.

PreciousJones · Answer

Yes, exactly.

It's more subjective than anything else, so unless any of you are African American, you probably wouldn't understand.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-oprahwinfreytre80d0ji-20120114,0,4392095.story

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