Quote:
Originally Posted by Esel Mann
hmmm, well that could pizz some off. it was taught to me 'oriental' is descriptive of objects, BUT NOT people. i don't use that term period, even with objects. i was told very matter of factly that said term is aliken to well you know....
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In Korea, they used to teach that "Oriental" was an appropriate term to describe Asian people. Mind you that was 20+ years ago so things may have changed.
In Canada, I was told never to use that term due to its racist undertones.
In the UK, it's still in use officially. They probably justify it based on its etymology. Should they get on with the times and change that? Or is that just cancel culture?
Bonus fun fact: you will still hear the term "mongol" used as a slang equivalent to calling someone a "retard" around here, especially in mainland Europe. I don't think I ever heard that in North America. You guessed it, it comes from the antiquated term "mongoloid" to describe Down's syndrome. But conveniently "mongoloid" is also another antiquated term to describe the whole of "The Orient". Apparently it's still fine enough for an F1 driver to use
in the heat of the battle and be broadcast in the world feed. More reading here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_idiocy
It's one of those terms that I can choose to take offence to or not, but if it was from someone I know, I would point out why they might want to reconsider using it.