Asian = Oriental, etc.

[Herb Stahlke]

This debate is beginning to remind me of a similar debate at the
African Linguistics Conference in Gainesville in 1973, where we
debated what to call the native speakers who work with us on the
analysis of their languages.  The word "informant" had been used
almost universally among participants up till that year, but that
was Watergate-time, and the press had coopted the term to replace
"informer", which had negative connotations they didn't want.  The
result was that "informant" developed the same connotations; hence
the debate.  One unfortunate linguist who had worked only in
Anglophone Africa and apparently was a little weak on Francophone
WWII history suggested "collaborator."  That was a non-starter.
Several senior people objected to "consultant" on the grounds that
the term tended to scare deans concerned about budgets.  I'm
pleased to see that consultant seems to have won out in the last
quarter century, suggesting perhaps that deans are educable.

Herb Stahlke