I think it was the other way around. After all, doesn’t “nigger” come from “Negro” (which is really the Spanish word for black)?
It is for me, and I speak as someone who is both Asian and Oriental.
A lot of Americans treat the two terms as though they are equivalent. They are not. Many Asians are not orientals – the aforementioned Indians and Pakistanis, for example.
Yeah, yeah, I know. A lot of people say that one should use “Asian” when referring to people and “Oriental” when referring to objects. That rule only makes sense if the two terms are otherwise equivalent though, and they’re not. This rule came into existence because your typical American doesn’t know that Asia encompasses more than just the Far East.
I’d notice it and probably think it was unusual. Asian id definitely the preferred term nowadays. But I don’t consider “oriental” to be very offensive - it’s more archaic than derogatory.
On a related note, I’ve seen supermarkets struggle to figure out a way to label “soul food”. They don’t want to put up anything that implies that black people have a separate section of the store. Music and book stores get around it with the “urban” label but that wouldn’t really work for food which has rural origins. I saw places that tried the label “comfort food” but that wasn’t specific enough. So the preferred term now seems to be “southern food”.
What if our American Doper cyber-acquaintances saw a TV commercial imploring them to not let their home be a house with no Coon?
Clearly any offense given would be purely occidental.
Wonder what?
I agree with your PC Creep proposition but I suspect that the newspaper reporter in your anecdote didn’t mean anything at all by what they said and just had a momentary brain fart as a consequence of home experience where “black” and “african american” are basically synonyms.
Yes, and each becomes regarded as offensive in turn. Well meaning liberals decide the old words are offensive because they are used disparagingly by some people about a particular minority. So they invent a new word. If that word gains acceptance and becomes mainstream, it is used disparagingly by some people about the same particular minority and it is time to invent a new term. Rinse, lather, etc. It’s all so pointless.
Oh, no. Asian means someone from the Indian subcontinent.
It’s actually a Scottish dialectal word.
To confuse things even more. In Swedish and, I think, German Oriental could refer to East Asia, but more often the Middle East.
i laughed…
as an asian and an american, i personally don’t find the term oriental offensive at all. it’s actually useful in describing China/Japan/Korea. Vietnam/Thailand/Vietnam/etc. are “South Asians” to me, but that leaves a lack of a word for Pakistan/India/Bangladesh (i personally use “India & co.” which offends my indian&co. friends)
In the UK the term “desi” often refers to Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. It’s mainly used by those groups to refer to themselves, but has gained some traction in wider society.
When I hear the term, I think of the old Advanced Dungeons and Dragons rulebook “Oriental Adventures”
I also perceive the term as non-offensive, but overly quaint.
How about the term “East-Asian”?
I dunno, maybe they were just Adventures meant to orient you to the game.
It has nothing to do with well-meaning liberals. Do you really think it was some liberal group that decided to switch from negro to black or spanish to hispanic or oriental to asian? It’s the people that decide what to call themselves. Liberals then go along with it because they think people should be able to pick their own name.
It also makes me think of “oriental noodles”, possibly in casserole form.
So you won’t find your Russian foods on that shelf?
The “Oriental” of Oriental Adventures was deliberate exoticism, of course (look at the back-cover blurb). It was exactly the basis–for the purpose–that people may find offensive applied to real people and places today.
Maruchan, a US noodle company, offers ramen in “Oriental Flavor” without any apparent controversy. Now, if they were to advertise them as “inscrutably delicious” or some such, that might be playing with fire.
Wonder what’s going on there.
In the US, “Oriental” has been a non-preferred term for my entire life, and I’m pushing 40. This isn’t a new development, it’s been decades. I also expect that marketing departments of major companies choose their words carefully. So, if I saw that sign (which looks to be mass produced and part of the company’s standard signage) in the US, I would assume that the company has made a conscious decision to use a term with negative connotations. And I would wonder why the store made that choice.
In all honesty, the very first thing that popped into my head when I saw the pic was…
“Dude, ‘Oriental’ is not the preferred nomenclature.”
-Walter Sobchak
Not another thread about “Oriental.” Well, I guess it has been awhile. Again, I don’t find it offensive.
Well, whether people are offended isn’t necessarily the point. Even if no one is really put off by it, there can still be a question of whether it’s the best word. At least three different understandings are referenced in this thread of which region is meant.