Asian = Oriental, etc.

[Natalie Maynor]

Bob Haas wrote:

> I find nothing wrong with the term, but I enthusiastically agree that people
> should be called whatever makes them comfortable or whatever they feel to be
> correct and proper.

I also am a believer in calling groups by the labels they prefer.  But
I'm amused when it is outsiders who decide that a particular group should
be offended by a label they're not offended by and then act as PC police
re the label.  That seems to have been the case with "Native American."
I'm not sure who first decided that "Oriental" had negative connotations.
I do know that in my (of course limited) experience it has been only
non-Asians who have argued that the term should be avoided.  All of the
Asians I've discussed it with have seen nothing at all offensive about
being called oriental.

But then I meet both criteria mentioned earlier for people likely to
use the term -- I'm over fifty and have never lived on the west coast.
I've also never heard "oriental" used with any discernible negative
connotation.
   --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)