[Ads-l] banana

[Ben Zimmer]

On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 8:07 PM Bill Mullins wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 3:14 PM Ben Zimmer wrote:
> >
> > (The OED's use of "oriental" in the definition is... unfortunate.)
>
> In what way?
>

The OED definition for "banana" reads (in part): "an oriental person
regarded, esp. by other orientals, as adopting or identifying with white
culture." The noun "oriental" is labeled as "dated, now usually offensive"
by Merriam-Webster, "often offensive" by American Heritage, and simply
"offensive" by Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford (now on Lexico) has an extensive
usage note that begins, "The term 'oriental' has an out-of-date feel as a
term denoting people from Asia; it tends to be associated with a rather
offensive stereotype of the people and their customs as inscrutable and
exotic."

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/oriental

Considering that the OED def was drafted in 2013, it's hard to understand
why it uses a term considered dated and offensive by Oxford's own
dictionaries.

--bgz

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org