Use of word `Creole' isn't correct in paper

For years the misuse of the term ``Creole'' has annoyed me. Your paper and other entities in Dade County use this term to refer to the bastardized French Haitians speak.

This is an incorrect usage. The term ``Creole'' refers to the descendants of European settlers and former African slaves, normally in the Caribbean and parts of South America. This grouping distinguished them from aboriginal inhabitants. Therefore, what is spoken by Haitians is a Creole dialect -- not a language.

This is also the case of Cajun, spoken by the Arcadians in Louisiana. It is not solely limited to former French colonies; the local dialect of Aruba, a mixture of Dutch, Spanish and French, is also a Creole. Please stop the misusage.

Moreover, the cover story of [Sunday April 28] Neighbors deals with the enormous numbers of fires in Little Haiti. The article plays up the fact that only one firefighter on one shift speaks Haitian [Creole].

What's the problem? These people need to learn how to speak English. Immigrants must learn to leave their old ways in the old country. Your paper does a disservice by printing an article in Haitian [Creole] every Sunday. It is insulting to those of us who have lived the immigrant experience, learned the language and assimilated. Why don't you print a Yiddish section, given the large Jewish population in Northeast Dade?

R.E.W. RODGERS
Miami Shores