Quote:
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Originally Posted by attgig
in American PC language, oriental is a adjetctive used to describe inanimate objects... ie oriental rug. If you used it as a noun, it would be even more offensive (ie. An Oriental just got that new job)
Asian is used to describe a person.
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I see...
I just happened to look it up at Dictionary.com and here's what they say about it:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oriental
Quote:
o-ri-en-tal - [awr-ee-en-tl, ohr‑] Show IPA
Use oriental in a Sentence
–adjective 1. (usually initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Orient, or East; Eastern.
2. of the orient or east; eastern.
3. (initial capital letter) Zoogeography. belonging to a geographical division comprising southern Asia and the Malay Archipelago as far as and including the Philippines, Borneo, and Java.
4. Jewelry. a. (usually initial capital letter) designating various gems that are varieties of corundum: Oriental aquamarine; Oriental ruby.
b. fine or precious; orient: oriental agate; oriental garnet.
c. designating certain natural saltwater pearls found esp. in the Orient.
–noun 5. (usually initial capital letter) a native or inhabitant of the Orient.
Usage Note
Usage Note: Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The usual objection to Oriental—meaning "eastern"—is that it identifies Asian countries and peoples in terms of their location relative to Europe. However, this objection is not generally made of other Eurocentric terms such as Near and Middle Eastern. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue, the home of despotic empires and inscrutable customs. At the least these associations can give Oriental a dated feel, and as a noun in contemporary contexts (as in the first Oriental to be elected from the district) it is now widely taken to be offensive. However, Oriental should not be thought of as an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. As with Asiatic, its use other than as an ethnonym, in phrases such as Oriental cuisine or Oriental medicine, is not usually considered objectionable.
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To be honest, I always though it meant "someone from the Orient"... and in that, if it was an item, like an Oriental rug, it was "a rug made by someone of the Orient".
Personally, I respect your wishes to not use that reference, however I still don't really see the true "negative/slur" relation of the term. Honestly, I don't think people use the term to degrade or make disparaging remarks about your decent (unlike some "other terms" out there that we oppose in people using...)
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