Is 'oriental' racist?

Did a bit of reading. Apparently the word Oriental was historically used for objects. It's racist connotation comes from referring to East Asians as objects rather than people and hence inferring that they are of lower social standing.
 
I think it's just down to the people being called the name if they want to take offense or not.

Just looking down the list of alternate British names, there's not one I would be offended by if called. Maybe because we've never been oppressed or something, I don't know.

I know mates of mine from NZ have called me pommy before, I've never though to myself that's offensive, just that's their name for us, same as I would call them kiwis.
 
RDM said:
You don't think the many years of use as a racial slur (normally preceeded with a swear word) to describe anyone of west asian appearance regardless of what country they actually come from has something to do with it?
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Funnily it has no racist overtones in America - George Bush was even quoted as saying it
 
You think they'd name a restaurant Oriental Kitchen if it was deemed to be offensive?

Your friend is an idiot.
 
Cuchulain said:
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lmfao :D
 
dekez said:
Why?

Don't think I've ever used the word oriental, far too many syllables. Thought Asian was more common nowadays?
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Asian is the blanket term user in the USA, but it doesn't differentiate between Indian/Pakistani/etc and Chinese/Japanese/etc.

As such, I refer to the former as Asian and the latter as Oriental.
 
Mr Jack said:
It's generally considered racist in America.
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That's what I was told by an old Japanese friend of mine who used to live in the US. I've never considered it an offensive term myself. They've got worse words for us Johnny Foreigner in China anyway, so one wrong plus one wrong and all that :p
 
Seems that its seen as racist in the US...referring to things as oriental is cool, oriental rug etc..but people, its a bit dodgy..in the UK? i dont think its commonly seen as racist but pretty old fashioned.

i feel weird saying it because its so old fashioned so i just use east asian to refer to china/japan/korea..
 
Balddog said:
Seems that its seen as racist in the US...referring to things as oriental is cool, oriental rug etc..but people, its a bit dodgy..in the UK? i dont think its commonly seen as racist but pretty old fashioned.

i feel weird saying it because its so old fashioned so i just use east asian to refer to china/japan/korea..
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Yeah that's pretty much how I see it as well, not offensive just old fashioned.
 
Saying someone is oriental is generally not offensive, especially if you include "of...descent" etc, however saying someone is AN Oriental, generally is.
The only reason I can think is general useage, the same as ****.

I've said it whenever it's come up, but there are many countries where people from Pakistan are called pakis and it's not offensive, the problem in the UK is that it has been and is used by racists as a catch all for anyone of asian descent, and frequently prefixed by a swearword.
 
well, i've just ask a chinese lady where i work and she didn't even know what it meant - after a quick look on a chinese dictionary site she doesn't find it offensive at all, as it just means 'the east'.
she also says its just americans being stupid.
 
So that's that, OcUk has decided it's not offensive.

You can now call your mate a ****ing idiot and see how he finds that :p
 
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