Asian, Oriental, and other terms of endearment

[Pearsons, Enid]

I didn't, and don't, think insults were intended on the part of the original
posters (plural). No insults were intended on my part either.  I merely
wanted to point out somewhat graphically that there are groups other than
those under discussion that may have sensitivities of their own,
particularly if they are--even unintentionally--spoken of as some monolithic
entity.  Qualifiers are good. Well, sometimes good.

And nomenclatural confusion is a pervasive thing. Certainly, something
similar to the quest for terms that will not offend ethnic groups exists
within and outside the age-group divisions.  My mother, for example, hated
being classed among the "seniors, senior citizens, the elderly, old
folks"--any of the common designations, whether they seemed blunt or merely
euphemistic. (We never did solve that one.) And some of my friends and
colleagues in their 20's and 30's despise being identified as members of
"Generation" + letter-of-the-alphabet. One reason that discussions like
those that appear on this list are so valuable is that we all gain new
insight into the power of language.

So I reiterate.  _Some_ people over 50/60/70 are capable of changing their
language. And perhaps they never did have the attitudes that current use of
the older, now offensive, terms would imply.