If you had to use one then which would you use?

I’d use Bengali. Bangladeshi sounds divisive and, flag waving, nationalistic.

Bangladeshi means someone who has Bangladeshi roots, such as citizenship, etc. Bengali is someone who actually speaks Bengali, even though they may not have any Bangladeshi roots. Remember, you get "Bengalis" in West Bengal too which is a part of India! Or so I thought!

Anyway personally, I refrain from either of the above when declaring my identity. My identity is Muslim, period! I suppose you could say that I am more comfortable with a certain culture such as the bengali culture, but this is more to do with taste, styles and family heritage rather than identity which is more to do with values, beliefs and ideology. Hence why I believe that religion is a stronger indicator of identity than nationalism.

Good thread Abdul Hye!

The Bengali people are the ethnic community from Bengal (divided between Bangladesh and India) on the Indian subcontinent with a history dating back four millennia. They are an eastern Indo-Aryan people, who are also descended from Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian peoples, and closely related to the Oriya, Assamese, Biharis, and other East Indians, as well as to Munda and Tibeto-Burman peoples. As a result, Bengalis are a heterogeneous and considerably diverse ethnic group. They are mostly concentrated in Bangladesh and in the states of West Bengal and Tripura in India.

I believe “Bangladeshi” is more of political thing because many people in Bangladesh wanted distinguish themselves from the people of west Bengal. And doesn’t “desh” mean land? It would be like saying Englanders.

I would say British Muslim Bengali Woman Humanitarian Tree Hugging Hippy

or just 'I' will do

compartmentalisations are the most difficuilt methods of character definition, best to avoid

Yeah, what rahima said... Minus the tree hugging hippy though :s LOL

Why does it sound like Abdul Hye made this up

They are an eastern Indo-Aryan people, who are also descended from Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian peoples, and closely related to the Oriya, Assamese, Biharis, and other East Indians, as well as to Munda and Tibeto-Burman peoples

Esspecially when he says Munda!!

lol Sima, i stopped reading the post after Austro-Asiatic ... Too many names!! Makes one confuzzled!

yes bangladeshi is a nationality dummy and bengali is a language! you can't mix the two up

i try the broadest compartmentalisation tha i can; Bangladeshi origin, multilingual muslim who speaks, reads and writes both english and bengali...!