My mom is from the Azores, my dad is from the USA.  Does that make me Hispanic?

Dear m050383, 

This depends upon which definition. 

Sociologically, the term "Hispanic" refers to a group, in the United
States, whose members are immigrants from Spanish speaking countries
(usually this term refers to people from Latin America, although
people from Spain could be considered Hispanic), or their descendants.

Linguistically, it refers to people who are Spanish speaking. 

Azores is neither Spanish speaking (it is part of Portugal), nor is it
in Latin America.

"Often the term Hispanic is used synonymously with the word Latino,
and frequently with Latin as well. Even though the terms may sometimes
overlap in meaning, they are not completely synonymous.

Latin refers to any of the people related to, or descended from, the
original Latin-speaking Romans, and includes all the Romance-speaking
European nationalities (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Romania)
including their cultures, and their descendants worldwide. Hispanic,
on the other hand, specifically refers to Spain and the
Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, as cultural and demographic
extenstion of Spain. Meanwhile, Latinos are only those from the
countries of Latin America, whether Spanish or Portuguese-speaking."
(SOURCE: Wikipedia, Hispanic, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic>). 

A person whose mother is from the Azores, part of Portugal, is thus
"Latin", not "Latino" and not "Hispanic". However, as I said before,
it depends on definitions, and if you define yourself as Hispanic, it
is still part of your identity.

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it.

Very detailed, many sources, and many considerations.  I felt a little
unsatisfied by the "it depends" nature of the question, but I guess
there really is no solid answer like I was hoping for

I am an American of Portuguese descent.  We are NOT Hispanic or
Latino.  We are European, white, Caucasian.  We may be considered
Latins (note no letter "o" there), much like the Italians, Spanish,
and southern French.

Being from the U.S. has nothing to do with whether you are Hispanic or
not.  A person can be from the U.S., or the Azores for that matter,
and be of any cultural background, so that description really doesn't
help.  I think what the researcher meant by 'it depends' is that it
depends on what cultural background you and your family is from more
than it matters from what geographical area they are from in
identifying whether or not you are Hispanic.