# Which is more politically correct - "Asian" or "Oriental"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827 "2005-12-02T22:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/101 "2013-02-18T00:34:21Z")
And Swiss is cheese 😉 ---
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/102 "2013-02-18T01:44:53Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > How many other regional descriptors do you know of that are either just for objects and another term meaning the same thing must be used for people? “Western for objects, European for people” sounds really dumb, doesn’t it? Same exact thing. The common one that comes to mind is “Scotch” and “Scottish.” At one time it was common to refer to people from Scotland as “Scotch,” but now it’s considered bad form. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/103 "2013-02-18T03:08:34Z")
Call us small brown men, or ‘little buddy’, or just ‘hey dude’. We’ve a lot on our minds to care. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/104 "2013-02-18T03:20:35Z")
> [@NormalDude](#): > > Poor dog would be scorned by any Afghani dog lovers, quite unnecessarily. > [@Lamia](#): > > Anyway, people from Afghanistan are actually called “Afghans” not “Afghanis”. (I didn’t know this until I had an Afghan-American coworker.) Indeed. The [afghani](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_afghani) is the unit of currency used by Afghans in Afghanistan. I recall a US State Department official lecturing the media on this back when we started bombing Afghanistan. > [@SCAdian](#): > > All the American Indians I’ve known referred to themselves as “Indians.” Ditto. And I’ve never viewed “Oriental” as pejorative. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/105 "2013-02-18T17:22:44Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Because if you were “astute to the history” you would know that China fancies itself the MIDDLE kingdom. > [@NormalDude](#): > > It is not a Eurocentric creation. Japan is the land of the rising sun by their own description, which is a similar concept Japan is “The Land of the Rising Sun” because it’s East of **China** , not everything else. In Japan the word for “China” is 中国 (chuugoku), literally meaning “Central Country”. Yes, this means that Europe is still "the Western World’ by this metric, but so are India and Afghanistan. > [@Johanna](#): > > Siberian native peoples include [Khanty](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/khants.shtml), [Mansi](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/mansis.shtml), [Sa](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/enets.shtml)[mo](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/nenets.shtml)[ye](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/selkups.shtml)[ds](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/nganasans.shtml), [Tatar](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/baraba_tatars.shtml), [Ket](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/kets.shtml), [Dolgan](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/dolgans.shtml), [Sakha](http://www.yakutia.org/content/view/20/27/), [Altai](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/altaics.shtml), [Tuvan](http://www.genghisblues.com/), [Yukagir](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/yukaghirs.shtml), [Khakas](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/khakass.shtml), [Buryat](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15984622&postcount=64), [Evenki](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/evenks.shtml), [Even](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/evens.shtml), [Nanai](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/nanais.shtml),\* [Nivkh](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/nivkhs.shtml), [Koryak](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/koryaks.shtml), [Chukchi](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/chukchis.shtml), [Inupiat](http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/asiatic_eskimos.shtml), etc. Pretty much all of them have East Asian-looking features such as eyes resembling those of Mongolians or Kazakhs or northern Chinese & Manchu, etc. Khanty and Mansi are the nearest linguistic relatives of Magyar; in fact, _Mansi_ is [etymologically](http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2342352) an Ugrian cognate of _Magyar_, as well as a Finno-Ugric cognate of Finnish _mies_, from Proto-Uralic \*_mańć_- (‘person’ or ‘man’). > > \*Dersu Uzala of movie fame was a Nanai. Fair enough, East Asian it is then. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/106 "2013-02-18T17:52:56Z")
Oriental as in from the East? So, like the UK? That’s pretty far east from where I sit. I think we should call them ultra-orientals because they’re from the far far east. I guess I don’t care if you want to use oriental or not. I’m white so it’s not like I’ve got a vote here. It’s never been in my idiolect in the first place so leaving it out’s no struggle. I do judge white people who use it, though, if they’re doing it as a reaction to political correctness, because I think it’s a very petulant thing to bang on about. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/107 "2013-02-18T18:45:12Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Japan is “The Land of the Rising Sun” because it’s East of **China** , not everything else. In Japan the word for “China” is 中国 (chuugoku), literally meaning “Central Country”. Yes, this means that Europe is still "the Western World’ by this metric, but so are India and Afghanistan. I just realized that there’s a good illustration of this. Several old Chinese works in fact call India and the Middle East “The Western Regions”, including “The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions” (the “Western Regions” Include Afghanistan and India, among others). Perhaps the most famous example is “Journey to the West” (which is, in a way, a fictionalization of the journey that produced The Great Tang Records) which is a story about a monk going to India to retrieve Buddhist sutras. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/108 "2013-02-18T20:49:50Z")
The Land of the Rising Sun business is actually a Chinese construct. The Japanese just liked the idea of being that land that they adopted it. I have no idea what Nippon called itself beforehand. (I think that’s what Jragon may have been referring to by bolding China). I don’t have much to add about the West business except Xian, means Western Peace, and was about as West as it got for those early Chinese. However, as far as derogatory terms go, the word Yang now is fully integrated into the names of many things like Yang Yu (the potato) has racist roots. Yang Yu means “foreign taro” but Yang originally meant barbarian, and has been used to describe anything non-China regardless of direction. Including people. I suspect that is now less PC than it was a few decades ago but it does help show that racism is often a two-way street. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/109 "2013-02-18T21:26:24Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > The Land of the Rising Sun business is actually a Chinese construct. The Japanese just liked the idea of being that land that they adopted it. I have no idea what Nippon called itself beforehand. (I think that’s what Jragon may have been referring to by bolding China). I don’t recall the exact specifics, but I recall being taught that it’s not that Japan “liked” it so much as “Japan’s early writing and culture (especially for legal or upper class purposes) were so thoroughly influenced by China it was sort of inevitable they’d call themselves whatever China called them in an official capacity.” Basically, China was the major superpower of the region, Japanese writing and international politics were heavily influenced by China (and primarily **with** China), so on official documents it basically worked out to just label themselves with the most easily-understood and common-use moniker. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/110 "2013-02-19T02:17:54Z")
Really, “Far Eastern” is a better term for what lots of Americans mean by “Asian.” Placing Japan and the Philippines in “Asia” is a stretch–they’re in the islands east of Asia, hence arguably _Archipelagic._ ---
**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:** [February 19, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/111 "2013-02-19T02:25:27Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Really, “Far Eastern” is a better term for what lots of Americans mean by “Asian.” Placing Japan and the Philippines in “Asia” is a stretch–they’re in the islands east of Asia, hence arguably _Archipelagic._ This is another example of redefining the common meaning of words according to an arbitrarily chosen metric—in this case that “Asian” applies only to the main body of the Asian continent. (You know, a continent is just a big island and an island is just a small continent.) That’s not even mentioning that by any scientific standard, Asia is only part of a continent. The continent is either Eurasia or Afro-Eurasia. Given that there’s no logic behind your definition of “Asia,” why not allow Japan and the Philippines to be includes, particularly because common understanding already includes them? So this is not only a linguistics fail, it’s also a science fail. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/112 "2013-02-19T02:35:31Z")
Has anyone mentioned yet that “Asiatic” is another word that has gone the way that “Oriental” seems to be going? It would be odd for someone today to refer to a person as “that Asiatic gentleman.” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/113 "2013-02-19T03:14:11Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Has anyone mentioned yet that “Asiatic” is another word that has gone the way that “Oriental” seems to be going? It would be odd for someone today to refer to a person as “that Asiatic gentleman.” Odd, sure, but I don’t think it has any particular baggage attached. If I heard someone say it I’d probably look a little quizzical and think “hmm… quaint.” ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/114 "2013-02-19T03:34:06Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I love it when people decide that their personal way of using a word is The Right Way and everyone else is doing it wrong.:rolleyes: Reminds me of a poster recently who decided that “mistress” was the perfect term to describe a woman he knows who has a non-married boyfriend living in a nearby town, as the boyfriend was paying her rent her something like that. Despite everyone telling him he was wrong, he kept insisting that it was the perfect word. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/115 "2013-02-19T04:53:54Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Reminds me of a poster recently who decided that “mistress” was the perfect term to describe a woman he knows who has a non-married boyfriend living in a nearby town, as the boyfriend was paying her rent her something like that. Despite everyone telling him he was wrong, he kept insisting that it was the perfect word. Yeah, the term he was looking for was “kept woman.” 😃 ---
**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:** [February 20, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/116 "2013-02-20T05:12:29Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Has anyone mentioned yet that “Asiatic” is another word that has gone the way that “Oriental” seems to be going? It would be odd for someone today to refer to a person as “that Asiatic gentleman.” “Asiatic” definitely is a shade worse than “oriental”. Some of you whippersnappers just don’t get it. The Harvard Asiatic Review gets away with it because they have used the name since 1936. “Asiatic” fell out of favor long before PC correctness raised it’s head, eg 1950’s. Asiatic was commonly used to objectify in an unflattering way “The Asiatic as a rule are backstabbing yellow bellied cowards…” type crap. Kipling might be a good example of the use of Asiatic in a common and unflattering way. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/117 "2013-02-20T05:42:54Z")
large land mammals are asiatic, not people. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/118 "2013-02-20T15:18:18Z")
The last time I heard anyone use the term “Asiatic,” it was by the Moorish Science Temple and the Nation of Islam in reference to African-Americans. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/119 "2013-02-20T15:33:20Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The last time I heard anyone use the term “Asiatic,” it was by the Moorish Science Temple and the Nation of Islam in reference to African-Americans. 😕 This thread is the first I’d heard of Asiatic. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827/120 "2013-02-20T15:52:18Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > I’d just like **NormalDude** to give the racial and linguistic politics a rest and maybe spend a little time learning to multi-quote. They didn’t teach him to multi-quote in third grade. Why should he change now? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-more-politically-correct-asian-or-oriental/333827.md?page=7)