The term 'oriental'

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I'm not Asian and can't speak for anybody who is, but I do spend a lot of time thinking about language.

I'm around 40 and it would never occur to me to describe someone as "oriental." My dad or grandfather might have used the term, but it doesn't stand out in my mind. Oriental seems to have fallen out of common usage in favor of "Asian."

My guess is that oriental implied mysteriousness and absolute difference for colonizing Europeans. Saying Asian is more objectively descriptive--it identifies a region without suggesting a stance.
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
Had a relative mention going to eat lunch at an oriental restaurant at his job and they made him go to sensitivity training.


Either that's not all he said or his employers don't have a clue, as many restaurants have 'oriental' in the name...


+1
 
I find it interesting that people get offended by any word period.
The offence is in the way it is used, not in the way it is received.
YMMV

Smoky
 
Weird.. I've been with my wife since 04 and never heard her referred in that manner. Although she does look more mexican which really makes her mad when called that!
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
is simply as outdated as calling Black people "colored people,"


1) Someone can turn almost anything into a slur if they put it in the right context, with the right facial expression and demeanor. This gets lost or amplified in print, to the chagrin of the offendor, or offendee.

2) A "colored person" is offensive in that you start with a person, then add "something" to bring them down or sort them away from yourself.

The flipside is I'd rather call a Black guy Black, as I don't know if he's from Africa, or that he's American. It would be prejudiced (!) to assume African-Americanism about someone just by seeing them.
 
I saw the clip where our Biden used the term. He has said other things that i think are out of line, but this time i don't think he was. The context of how he used the term was not malicious or with poor intent. Its simply an antiquated word as he used it. I can't guess however if it offended those of Asian background.
 
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My cardiologist was born in South Africa but is an American citizen, he's also white. I think in todays PC atmosphere it's as much about geography as culture.
 
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Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
is simply as outdated as calling Black people "colored people,"


1) Someone can turn almost anything into a slur if they put it in the right context, with the right facial expression and demeanor. This gets lost or amplified in print, to the chagrin of the offendor, or offendee.

2) A "colored person" is offensive in that you start with a person, then add "something" to bring them down or sort them away from yourself.

The flipside is I'd rather call a Black guy Black, as I don't know if he's from Africa, or that he's American. It would be prejudiced (!) to assume African-Americanism about someone just by seeing them.


The offense is in the ear/eye of the beholder, and most uses of painfully unnecessary racial descriptions aren't offensive in nature. Have you ever heard an older person use an out-dated term? Even if the use is 100% innocent, it still makes every one listening pause and maybe even look among themselves, like, "was that ok to say?"

In the end, words are words and if the meaning isn't meant to be derogatory, then why must we seek new ones with less potential to offend.

So, whether someone is described as oriental, asian, black, colored, white, caucasion, etc., it's the speaker or context in which its written that matters. The fact that we have to worry about how to describe some one seems ridiculous to me.
 
Originally Posted By: KitaCam
As a related aside....

From my experience living in Japan, Japanese don't like to be called "Asian"....any more than a citizen of a Caribbean nation would like to be called an "American"...


Don't always quote myself but...

People of color emigrating to the US from countries (Haiti and other Caribbean countries) other than those on the African continent would be offended being identified as African-American...Geography + culture = identity in the most general sense.
 
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Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
"African-American"

Some black people don't like that term.

Maybe its their pride or Ego...



Don't really need to define a reason why.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
I would like to know why many Asians find this term to be offensive. I would appreciate an earnest discussion here, because honestly it puzzles me that the word is offensive in the first place.


Instant way of dating yourself!!!!!

Another I hear locally is calling Hispanic folks Spanish.
 
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
Had a relative mention going to eat lunch at an oriental restaurant at his job and they made him go to sensitivity training.

Its a world saturated with touchy feely do-gooders. LOL That is beyond crazy.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
I would like to know why many Asians find this term to be offensive. I would appreciate an earnest discussion here, because honestly it puzzles me that the word is offensive in the first place.


Instant way of dating yourself!!!!!

Another I hear locally is calling Hispanic folks Spanish.
I've heard Hispanic folks calling themselves Spanish. Once my boss asked a Hispanic receptionist where she was from and she said "Oh, I'm Spanish. I'm from Puerto Rico."
 
I'm half Hispanic with light colored hair and blue eyes....
(I fit in just fine at a NASCAR race in Alabama)

I really don't care what term people call 'Hispanics'
 
Yes....many folks today need to relax when somebody uses out of date terms or words to describe ones ethnicity. The VAST majority of people that do that don't mean anything negative anyway.
If I was from China and somebody called me an "Oriental"....I'd probably chuckle a bit and then tell them I was Chinese.
My girlfriend is from Mexico. She doesn't particularly like being called "Hispanic", "Latina"
or even "Spanish". But she understands that people get confused and try not to offend anybody. She prefers to be known as an American born in Mexico. I know from going to family fiestas and public celebrations that those of Mexican heritage are proud of being from Mexico and like to celebrate the many good things that country has to offer. Lumping them in with other hispanic cultures as a way of being identified....well, it's kind of generalizing and trivializing where THEY came from. But...not a big deal.
I suspect asian folks feel the same way.
 
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Just this weekend, I at a restaurant with "Oriental Buffet" in the name....with lots of Asian / Oriental people working inside.

These kinds of things are just the PC police trying to put more wedges between the citizens of this country.
 
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