Asian = Oriental, etc.

[Bob Haas]

>From the multiple citations that Doug Wilson provided, it seems that that
lexical community is pretty comfortable with their jargon.  Is there a need
for lay-persons to rush in and "correct" their vocabulary?  Probably not.
The question, however, was probably pertinent years ago when the term
"Mongoloid" was bandied about more freely (and incorrectly and
insensitively) in the general population.

Since the term, outside of its more accurate profession usage, is not used
much anymore (I cannot remember the last time I heard it ineptly applied in
regards to a Down syndrome case) would such a discussion still be warranted?

bh

> From: Joe Pickett <Joe_Pickett at HMCO.COM>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 17:25:08 -0500
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Asian = Oriental, etc.
>
> It would be interesting to know whether physical anthropologists have ever
> debated the use of these -oid terms.