how else am I supposed to refer to my favorite kind of dancers?

I am 100% Jamaican and I used "exotic ebony" sometimes because, well it fits. Exotic means there's something different. Like there's a bunch of ebony providers and by looking at my skin color thats what you see, ebony, but I'm not. I'm foreign, I'm an immigrant, I'm from an island that many vacation and cruise to so I myself think of that as something exotic.

google it or look it up in the dictionary.

KNOWING YOU ARE FAR FROM EXOTIC.  Who are you trying to fool with the almond shaped eyes?  Pleazzzzzz.... your eyes are filled in with an eye liner LOL.

I wouldn't say I'm bothered by it, but I agree, the word is overused, often by women you may not think of as exotic... It's not exclusive to Black women though (your Compton comment implies that they are the only ones who misuse the word, but run a search on any of the ad boards and you'll be surprised who is calling herself "exotic")... I think everyone's interpretation of "exotic" isn't the same. I have used the word before in my advertising, until I realized that some people attach a negative undertone to it...So I'm giving it a break now. To me the word exotic means foreign, mysterious, exciting... An interesting mix of 2 or more ethnicities, sometimes with an alluring foreign accent, usually darker features and/or hair... Someone like Thandie Newton or Aishwarya Rai.

To someone else it might mean American-born but of mixed heritage (e.g. half Hispanic, half Asian). I can see why that would also be considered very exotic... What I can't really understand is, for example fifth-generation US-born ladies of African decent claiming to be exotic (if you were born here, you are African-American...) or third generation Irish and Scottish "mixes" using that word (I call that White or Caucasian, since the people in Ireland and Scottland don't look all that different... Yet it's common to list those as someone's heritage, along with all the other Western European lineages). I guess when it comes to marketing, one has to use whatever phrase they think people may search for. Exotic sounds much better than "ordinary" or "Girl next door" because there are too many GND's already. If they feel that the word has a positive connotation, ladies will use it. Come to think of it, I might just use it in my next ad.

One more thought: being exotic is a question of the location too. Growing up in Eastern Europe, my first encounter with a truly "exotic" kid was when an African-American boy enrolled in my elementary school. We were all in awe at his coolness. Suddenly I felt a lot less exotic standing next to him...

-- Modified on 2/13/2013 8:52:46 PM