American-Born Confused Desi: Information from Answers.com

American-Born Confused Desi, or ABCD for short is a term used to refer to Indian Americans born in the United States, in contrast to those who were born overseas and later settled in the USA.^[1]

1 Neologism
2 Cultural implications
3 See also
4 Notes
5 Further reading

Neologism

ABCD or American-Born Confused Desi has become a polarizing factor in the South Asian diaspora in the US, with first-generation immigrant parents and young South Asians of second or latter generations.^[2] Though the term was originally coined in reference to Indian-Americans, it has been adopted by the South Asian community at large. The term "desi" comes from the word "desh"(homeland) in Sanskrit and Hindi; and "desh" in Bangla (Bengali) and Nepali. "Desi" (or "deshi") means "of the homeland" and is used to mean anyone from the subcontinent including Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

The longer and lesser known form "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, House In Jersey" is also occasionally seen; playing on the alphabet theme, it has been expanded for K-Z variously as "Kids Learning Medicine, Now Owning Property, Quite Reasonable Salary, Two Uncles Visiting, White Xenophobia, Yet Zestful" or "Keeping Lotsa Motels, Named Omkarnath Patel, Quickly Reaching Success Through Underhanded Vicious Ways, Xenophobic Yet Zestful".^[3] The former version of the A—Z expansion was proposed by South Asian immigrants as a reaction to the latter version which is derogatory towards them.^[4]

Confused Americanized Desi (CAD) is a related term, which refers to people of South Asian origin who are both born and living in the subcontinent but tends to follow western lifestyle and values.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural implications

Among South Asian Americans, the term may be considered divisive, as first generation South Asian Americans use it to criticize the Americanization and lack of belonging to either South Asian or American culture they perceive in their second-generation peers or children.^[5] Writer Vijay Prashad describes the term as "ponderous and overused" and notes it as one of the mechanisms by which new migrants attempt to make second-generation youth feel "culturally inadequate and unfinished."^[6]

Notes

^ Radhakrishnan, Rajagopalan, "Diaspora, Hybridity, Pedagogy", Peripheral Centres, Central Peripheries (ed. Ghosh-Schellhorn, Martina & Alexander, Vera), page 116, LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2006, ISBN 3825892107
^ Airriess, Christopher A., Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America, page 287, Rowman & Littlefield, 2007, ISBN 0742537722
^ Das, Diya (2007). The Evolution of an Identity: Indian American Immigrants from the Early 20th Century to the Present. Tribute Books. p. 60. ISBN 0979504562.
^ Mitra Kalita, S., Suburban Sahibs, page 13, Rutgers University Press, 2005, ISBN 0813536650
^ Skop, Emily. "Asian Indians and the Construction of Community and Identity". in Ines Miyares, Christopher A. Airriess. Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America. Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 287. ISBN 0742537722.
^ Prashad, Vijay (2000), The Karma of Brown Folk, University of Minnesota Press, p. 131, ISBN 0816634394

	What if your American Born Confused Desi cousins are in town and are bored and hot They also hate the flies Where do you take them and why? Read answer...
	Whats the difference between these two genre- Desi Hip-Hop or American Hip-Hop? Read answer...
	What do you enjoy listening to more Desi hip hop or the American hip hop? Read answer...

	Did the americans use the letters ll in their passwords to confuse the japanese?
	How does the American schooling system work coz its very confusing?
	American soilders were confused to discover that many south vitnamese people?

American-Born Confused Desi

Contents

Neologism

Cultural implications

See also

Notes

Further reading