# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/62 "2014-12-09T01:24:45Z")
Many Little Englanders — the term for virulent anti-imperialists such as Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Sir Wilfred Lawson: but later to those who think Britain should have no foreign entanglements — would prolly agree: but most people would consider it insane, even if, poor little hysterics, they hate the EU. I’ve sometimes put European as nationality, without diminishing my British Islesness, just to piss those sorts of people off. ---
**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, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/63 "2014-12-09T01:38:32Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > 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. > [@Claverhouse](#): > > Many Little Englanders — the term for virulent anti-imperialists such as Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Sir Wilfred Lawson: but later to those who think Britain should have no foreign entanglements — would prolly agree: but most people would consider it insane, even if, poor little hysterics, they hate the EU. That doesn’t seem to describe this lady. I think she’s just clueless. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/64 "2014-12-09T03:16:07Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > 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. When I first went to the UK - I was having trouble getting my power adapter to work - I brought it down to my friend from Scotland to have him take a look at it. He said “oh this is for Europe.” I asked “aren’t we in Europe?” “No mate - you’re in the UK.” He was semi (I think) joking, but it makes sense to some extent. If you live in the UK - and you want to talk about going to continental Europe - it kinda seems like convenient short hand. We don’t have a great analogy here - as there is no reason you would say “I’m going to North America this weekend” - as generally we are talking about two other countries - even though there almost two dozen I suppose. We’d say the name of the country. Canada and Mexico are pretty different - while plenty of people take trips throughout Europe (you can even use the same currency in most places) -no one takes trips throughout North America (more or less) except for maybe cruise ships - and then you’d use the Carribean or something. Back to the OP - hopefully the person in question has found a date by now, but I don’t think most Americans would consider Indians to be Asians - even though we know (hey some of us at least) that India is in Asia. We also wouldn’t consider an Egyptian or White South African to be African - or a Jewish Israeli to be Middle Eastern for the purposes of a dating website. Face it people want to know what you look like - and Asian brings up Chinese/Japanese mostly while African means black - and if used in America - would mean someone born in Africa and not raised in America (usually) - otherwise you’d use African American or Black. There is necessarily logic behind these distinctions, but it is the way the terms have evolved here. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/65 "2014-12-09T03:54:03Z")
To Westerners, Asian usually implies Mongolian features. Plain and simple. If we’re debating geographical distinctions and if India is a part of the Asian continent instead of Sub-Asian, then so be it. It’s Asia. Doesn’t change the fact that in the context of the OP, the fellow is being disingenuous by stating he is Asian. He’s Indian. It’s just the way it is. I’m White European. Did I have African blood in me 75,000 years ago? Maybe. 300,000 years ago? Yeah. -Shrug- I’m White. He’s Indian. Now, if he has strong Asian bloodlines in his family and is indeed a recent genetic mix of Asian/ Mongolain features and Indian features, why yeah. He’s part Asian. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/66 "2014-12-09T05:58:52Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > 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. We can qualify that absolute statement with “by a significant number of people in the US but has a different connotation and meaning in the UK.” Like I wrote several years ago, Miss Manners says you should refer to a group of people in the way they want to be referred to. You want Asian, then Asian it is. Me, I’ll listen to my kids since they are half Chinese born in China with Mandarin as their first language before being transplanted to the US. They don’t have strong views on this topic yet. Here’s a very interesting take that pin points the beginning of the move from Oriental to Asian at UC Berkeley in the 60’s. [Asian American Movement 1968: Introduction to the Asian American Movement 1968](http://aam1968.blogspot.com/2008/01/introduction-to-asian-american-movement.html) Certainly, in my geezerhood, I can remember politically correct Asians at UC Davis in the 1980’s that had no issue with being called “Oriental”. These were Japanese Chinese and Philippine natives or second generation. That was before Oriental is a rug and Swiss was still cheese days. 😉 YMMV. ---
**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, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/67 "2014-12-09T08:34:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > 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. > [@DataX](#): > > When I first went to the UK - I was having trouble getting my power adapter to work - I brought it down to my friend from Scotland to have him take a look at it. He said “oh this is for Europe.” > > I asked “aren’t we in Europe?” > > “No mate - you’re in the UK.” > > He was semi (I think) joking, but it makes sense to some extent. If you live in the UK - and you want to talk about going to continental Europe - it kinda seems like convenient short hand. We don’t have a great analogy here - as there is no reason you would say “I’m going to North America this weekend” - as generally we are talking about two other countries - even though there almost two dozen I suppose. We’d say the name of the country. Canada and Mexico are pretty different - while plenty of people take trips throughout Europe (you can even use the same currency in most places) -no one takes trips throughout North America (more or less) except for maybe cruise ships - and then you’d use the Carribean or something. That’s sort of like stories I’ve heard about Hong Kong. Many people don’t realize it lies just within the tropics, making it technically a “tropical island.” But it gets some chilly winters from air masses moving in from Siberia. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/68 "2014-12-09T19:52:38Z")
Just to throw another data point in - Over the years my understanding of Asian has drifted from the standard American - Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc. - to include Indian/Pakistani/etc. Then I found that Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc. would self-identify specifically, whereas Indian/Pakistani/etc. would self-identify as Asian (as in the OP). Consequently, my definition drifted further to only include Indian/Pakistani/etc. So, to answer the OP, if someone online were to self-identify as Asian, my first thought would be Indian/Pakistani/etc. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/69 "2014-12-10T14:09:39Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > But my question for you, is when someone uses the term “Asian” what comes to mind to you? What would you think of straight off? Depending on the context, the assumption is usually East Asian. However, in other conversations, its sometimes fitting to make it less ambiguous by referring to someone like this person, as being South Asian. Nonetheless, if the person had said the same thing to me, I’d immediately get it. I’ve raised it as a point, myself. It really depends on your frame of reference. This sort of reminds me of the West Indian, East Indian thing, too. A lot of this is shaped by Western influences. In the end, it’s as someone on this board once said-- “you are what you look like, here”. You’re Asian if you look _Chinese_ (and I use China, specifically, because people often sidestep the distinctions). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/70 "2014-12-10T14:32:29Z")
If I was looking at a dating profile on a US website that said “Asian”, I would assume east Asian. I’ve run into enough confusion over the terms that I now use “east Asian” and “south Asian” If I was trying to describe someone from Kazakstan or Iran or central Siberia, I wouldn’t use the word “Asian” unless I wanted to be confusing. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/71 "2014-12-10T14:38:48Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > That they drive poorly. - one million ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/72 "2014-12-10T14:47:37Z")
How would you describe [someone](http://www.policy.hu/filtchenko/Lab/Elmira.jpg) from [Siberia](http://oi58.tinypic.com/10f6ow3.jpg), then? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/73 "2014-12-10T15:00:52Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > How would you describe [someone](http://www.policy.hu/filtchenko/Lab/Elmira.jpg) from [Siberia](http://oi58.tinypic.com/10f6ow3.jpg), then? I would describe such a person as “Siberian”. Or possibly as “Russian”, depending on what sort of Siberian the person was. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/74 "2014-12-10T15:17:40Z")
OK, why use the more general term for people from other regions of Asia? ---
**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 10, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/75 "2014-12-10T15:56:56Z")
Siberia is in Asia. Siberians are Asians. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/76 "2014-12-10T19:01:57Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > OK, why use the more general term for people from other regions of Asia? Because natural language is used to communicate. “East Asians” share certain physical and cultural characteristics that my audience might care about. Same with “South Asians”. Siberians come in a variety of ethnic types (some who look more like Chinese, and others who look like Russians) and have a different cultural background. It would be confusing to refer to them as “Asians” unless for some obscure reason I was actually trying to convey what continent a person was born on. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/77 "2014-12-10T20:45:07Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > “East Asians” share certain physical and cultural characteristics that my audience might care about. Same with “South Asians”. Siberians come in a variety of ethnic types (some who look more like Chinese, and others who look like Russians) and have a different cultural background. You think there is less physical and cultural diversity across each of those multinational regions than in Siberia? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/78 "2014-12-10T20:59:03Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > You think there is less physical and cultural diversity across each of those multinational regions than in Siberia? If there’s some guy who looks European but lives in Korea, I probably wouldn’t call him “East Asian”, either. I don’t know a ton about who lives in Siberia these days, but it used to be a mix of people who are similar to the Inuit, people who are basically transplanted Russians, people who are very similar to the Mongols, and probably some other groups that have very little in common with the other ones. And I don’t think any of those groups was so dominant that it would be your default in thinking about Siberia. Whereas China and the nearby nations share a lot of history and culture, just as Europe does. And the vast majority of the people there look similar to American eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/79 "2014-12-10T21:21:39Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > If there’s some guy who looks European but lives in Korea, I probably wouldn’t call him “East Asian”, either. I meant just the ethnicities and language groups native to those countries for at least centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/80 "2014-12-10T21:34:06Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Hell, I’m Indian and I understand that Asian means Far East. But we’re Asian, too! Sometimes I’ll say Southeast Asian. Most of the time I just consider us an entity unto ourselves and say Indian. See, if you said “Southeast Asian”, my automatic assumption would be Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Thai, etc. “South Asian” would be Indian, Pakistani, etc etc etc On the topic of different cultural referents for different words - my husband’s family is Filipino, and the Philippines have been conquered and/or settled by tons of different countries over the years, from China to Spain to the US to everyone. Because of this melting pot of colonization, any given Filipino’s facial features can vary pretty wildly, from more Asian to more indigenous to more caucasian. So when a new baby was born, and his grandparents described him as being “more chinky-eyed than his sister”, I was all :eek::eek::eek: and they were all 😕 what’s the big deal? And we both learned something about what is or isn’t offensive in different cultures. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608/81 "2014-12-10T23:24:20Z")
That they believe that they are a large lion who likes to help young children from the UK…? _cleans monitor_ Oh… Asian… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-someone-identifies-as-asian-what-does-this-mean-to-you/504608.md?page=5)