# When Someone Identifies as "Asian" What Does This Mean To You? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608 "2009-07-28T22:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/42 "2009-07-30T14:48:22Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > You’re right, **Chief Pedant**. It’s a bunch of nonsense. > > A lot of people have said, “I think of Asian as…” With all due respect though, there can be a big difference between what we “think of” as being true and what actually is true. A lot of people think of slanty-eyed folks as being Chinese, but that doesn’t make their usage of this term accurate. > > Whether we like it or not, Asia is not limited to China and its surrounding nations. Asia does include India and Pakistan, among other nations. One could admittedly argue that Indians and Pakistanis are geographically Asian but not “racially” Asian. In such situations though, the term “Mongoloid” would be more specific and technically accurate, albeit somewhat unsavory. Please remember the question is asking about what we would think of in the case of someone putting Asian on a dating site in the USA. It does not mean we don’t know India is part of Asia. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/43 "2009-07-30T17:34:58Z")
I would think Japanese, Chinese or Korean. Probably because that’s what I would mean! ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/44 "2009-07-30T17:47:15Z")
\*c.1300, “the East” (originally usually meaning what is now called the Mid-East), from [O.Fr](http://O.Fr). orient (11c.), from L. orientem (nom. oriens) “the rising sun, the east, part of the sky where the sun rises,” originally “rising” (adj.), prp. of oriri “to rise” (see orchestra). \* > **[oriental | Search Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=oriental)** > > The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet's go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. It is professional enough to satisfy academic standards, but accessible... Funny how “occidental” doesn’t have the same frequency of use. Interesting too how in the States you’d never call an African-American “colored” (unless you’re trying to provoke a fight), but it’s the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” If there had been “No African-Americans” signs back in the day, they’d probably insist today that we call them “colored.” I.e. the term itself isn’t objectionable but the associations with the time frame in which it was used are. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/45 "2009-07-30T18:16:33Z")
Asian, citizen of the Roman province of Asia Minor. The whole racial politics in the US (and to a the lesser extent) the UK is mind boggling. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/46 "2009-07-31T04:34:41Z")
He should put “Aryan”. That’d really mess with their heads. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/47 "2009-07-31T16:58:12Z")
> [@Sri\_Theo](#): > > I could be more specific and say Telegu, but who is that honestly going to help? Someone who’d assume you speak Hindi? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/48 "2009-07-31T17:42:22Z")
I would think, “Somebody from Asia.” If someone is Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, I would consider them Oriental. I know it’s considered a slur by some people, but I don’t mean it to be a slur, just more descriptive. It’s too bad we have so royally messed up the word Indian so that it can mean either “from India” or “native American.” Indian-dot and Indian-feather is not good enough. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/49 "2009-08-01T04:42:24Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I know you guys think that the sensitivity around oriental is a bunch of hooey, but when real Asian people say they don’t like it, isn’t it polite just to drop it? Just to clarify, I fully agree with the Miss Manners common courtesy on using Asian. there have been many threads on this topic. Asian as the prefered nomenclature for the people formally known as Orientals probably started in Berkeley in the sixties. I don’t have the link handy but posted before. It started getting into the mainstream in the late 80’s, although one could argue that it’s still not fully mainstream. I learned Chinese when Asian was more common but Oriental was perfectly acceptable. and that pre-dated Oriental is a rug catchphrase. sorry if I was snarky but I really hate that ‘Oriental is a rug’ meme repeated mindlessly ad nauseum as the final word on the subject by people who generally don’t have a fucking clue to any of the history, culture. language or context. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/50 "2009-08-01T05:57:31Z")
Back to the subject, if I hear an American say “Asian,” I think Far-East-looking (not necessarily from there, it may be someone who’s a 7th generation American but many of whose 7-generations-before foreparents were born in China). If I hear it in the UK, I know it’s “from India or thereabouts”. If I hear someone say “Asiático” in Spain, I ask “asian, how?” and they usually clarify that they mean Far-East-looking. The trend of thinking that referring to someone as “chinese” means “Far-East-looking” (as opposed to meaning “from China”) and Should Not Be Done is relatively new in Spain (and from what I know, in other Hispanic countries as well); given that Spain is on its second generation of immigrants from China, people who get on that particular high horse are likely to get dismounted rapidly, as the speaker is highly likely to have used “chinese” to describe someone who, gee, was born in Shanghai. ---
**Author:** ![Iubaris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@Iubaris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iubaris)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2009, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/51 "2009-08-01T07:11:15Z")
I’m half Chinese, American-born from the west coast. To me and almost everyone I know, “Asian” is taken to mean East Asian. I consider everyone from China and Japan down to Indonesia to be “Asian,” while people from India are “Indian.” (This does bring up some confusion with Indians v. Native Americans, but that’s a different issue.) I’m not really sure why this is. Possibly the wide difference in culture between India and East Asian countries contributes to it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/52 "2009-08-21T21:01:44Z")
> [@SomeBodyUK](#): > > I’m a British born Indian who lives in the US. In UK I’m Asian, In the US I’m not - I came to a compromise with my Oriental friends, they call themselves East Asian and I call myself South Asian. > > “Oriental” is considered offensive in as much as it refers to objects and not people. I still use it in the US, if anybody gets pissed off I explain that i’m British and it’s not considered offensive there. Actually as far as i know “Oriental” is only offensive in the US. I am also a British born Indian who lives in the US, though I’m probably a bit more Anglicized than **SBUK** (I’m more Anglicized than any other first-generation child of Indian emigrants that I’ve met, and I’ve met a lot). I refer to myself as “of Indian descent”. To be perfectly honest, as far as I can remember nobody in Britain every asked me what my ethnic background was; everyone could tell from my hair and my skin tone and my nose. People in the US ask all the time, and they’re _horrible_ at identifying Indians. I usually make them guess, and they’ll go through various Hispanic and Arab cultures before guessing correctly. Oriental is the word that plays in my head when describing Southeast Asians, but I quickly learned to translate it into “Asian”. If I have to refer to myself using continental terms I say South Asian. ---
**Author:** ![tigermilk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tigermilk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tigermilk)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/53 "2014-12-07T16:00:47Z")
I am from Eastern Europe, for what it’s worth Oriental means Arab or Persian to me, Asian means the yellow race, Mongols, Vietnamese, etc. If an Indian or Bharati claimed they were Asian I would be really confused. Yes technically it’s the Eurasian continent but they are not yellow. And if they claimed they were of Aryan descent someone would probably call the police. Aryan is Nazi. And stop calling yourselves Caucasian, people. The Caucasus is a definite place where Caucasians live - Armenians, Georgians, Azeri. No Pakistanis or Americans are NOT Caucasian. It’s kind of baffling why would they call themselves that because it’s a rather offensive term. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/54 "2014-12-07T16:06:27Z")
For me personally, Asian means all of Asia, the whole kit and kaboodle from Turkey to Japan, even the Arabian peninsula. But I do know “Asian” can mean different things to different people, so I try to understand what any particular person means when saying the word. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/55 "2014-12-07T16:12:27Z")
Asian. From the continent of Asia. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/56 "2014-12-07T16:22:53Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > So what first comes to mind to you, if someone were to say “He/She is Asian”? Nothing. My grandpap always identified himself as “Asian”; a tag that got hung on him when he came over here the first time around 1900. Being from Siberia, he basically qualified and the more he found out about the basic racism here he kinda wore it as a badge of honor. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/57 "2014-12-07T16:55:04Z")
> [@SomeBodyUK](#): > > “Oriental” is considered offensive in as much as it refers to objects and not people. That’s not the _reason_ it’s considered offensive. It’s simply that because it’s offensive to use “Oriental” specifically for people, as a matter of default it’s still okay to use “Oriental” for objects. At some point the latter might also become offensive, who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/58 "2014-12-07T17:28:22Z")
To me, an Englishman: Asia is the largest place on earth and starts east of the Urals until one hits the Pacific. Some say east of the Carpathians. That being the case, _Asian_ is fairly meaningless as a descriptor. There are billions of people, thousands of tribes/national identities ( if claimed ), and hundreds of powers. To a lesser extent African is pretty useless as a cultural indicator. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/59 "2014-12-07T17:34:53Z")
> [@tigermilk](#): > > Asian means the yellow race What, Khoi-san? ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/60 "2014-12-07T17:49:26Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > What, Khoi-san? Nah, I think he’s talking about the Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/61 "2014-12-09T00:43:34Z")
On a side note, does anyone here think the British are not European? Because I know a Briton here who thinks Britain is not part of Europe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608.md?page=4)