Caucasian

arising from the old "racial" classifications, where it referred to peoples indigenous to Europe, western Asia, northern Africa, and much of the Indian subcontinent, "Caucasian" today is used infrequently (usually only by some police departments and hospitals) but erroneously as a synonym for "white" or "European/European American." "When it comes to the crunch, Caucasian doesn't mean much more than 'white people who play golf'" (Geoffrey Nunberg, Going Nuculear). "Caucasian" is correct when used to refer to the region between the Black and Caspian seas that includes Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, but for the peoples use instead "people in or from the Caucasus." See also -oid, race, white.