Yes, really. But at 31 perhaps I am part of the older generation. Obviously “Oriental” people are also Asian, but in the UK, “Asian” by default tends to refer to India/Pakistan.
To be honest, it’s fairly rare to refer to the region at all, you’d normally be talking about a particular country, so if you want demographics of the word’s usage you’ll have to wait I’m afraid. Are you saying that you consider “Oriental” offensive, or just that you don’t hear young people say it?
Judging from that geography quiz that was posted here not so long ago, I doubt if many of the younger generation could find Asia on a map anyway.
Love the logic in this thread:
“I’m a white American, and as such, I don’t find the term Oriental offensive in any way. So if Asian people find it offensive, they must be mistaken or trying to get back at us white people.”
Guys. If Asians say they don’t want to be called Oriental, then trust them on this. Be a nice guy and call them whatever they want.
I just have never heard young people say it at all. I not new to people not knowing their geography, my design and technology teacher thought that Egypt was in Asia. Wanker.
Show me where ‘Asians’ (you’re also assuming here that several billion people feel exactly the same way on one issue) find it offensive. The only people I’ve ever heard say it was offensive are - ding ding ding - white Americans.
Same with African American. Most black people use the term black. It’s white people that you hear saying African American. The fact that the term is such a pain in the ass to say out loud (Af-ri-can A-mer-i-can as opposed to Black) and is almost exclusively used by white people makes it sound patronizing to me. You think it will be offensive 20 years from now?
Actually I would like that to go on record as an official statement. I predict that African American will be considered offensive within the next 20 years.
Hopefully once we all start to see how ridiculous this vicious circle of offensiveness is we will finally start to relax and treat each other like humans without regard to what sounds come out of our mouths to identify one another. Like Shakespear said: What’s in a name?
A “racial” classification system I think most of us can agree on.
I spent quite a few days working on it here it goes.
People of Asian or Pacific Islander origin = human
People of European or Middle Eastern origin = human
People of African origin = human
People of Native American, Inuit origin = human
People of Latin American origin = human
People of Australian Aboriginal origin = human
That’s all well and good, but ethnicity is still a really good descriptor – describing someone as “tall, Asian, wearing a suit” is much more precise than “tall, in a suit.”
FWIW: I have a few black friends that can’t stand the term. In one of their own words, “I was born here in Canada! I am not African OR American! I’m just a Canadian who happens to be black.”
It’s hard to be culturally sensitive when you have no idea that what you are doing isn’t sensitive anymore. Certainly I’ve heard “Asian” more than “Oriental” recently, but I had no idea that the older term was now offensive, I just thought that it was getting a little outdated (but then, I still say “groovy”)
For what it’s worth, I usually do say Asian, but I have also used Oriental from time to time, and I think it’s a prettier word.
In thinking about it, I realize that my usage of “Oriental” typically comes when saying something like “she has very Oriental features” or something… “Asian features” isn’t very descriptive.
And as a last (“hooray,” they cried) consecutive contribution to this thread, I’ll say that I find the term “African American” to be silly and inacurate. For example, one of my neighbors is quite black… and she’s from Jamaica.
Another pointless addition: I know a group of several friends that use the term ‘Asian’ as an insult. Is that better or worse than using ‘Oriental’ in a polite way?
Can’t believe it took me that long to think of that. They say it every other breath.
