[Ads-l] banana (UNCLASSIFIED)

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC AVMC (USA)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

Thanks.  I don't often have occasion to use "oriental", and didn't know it was offensive.  


> 
> 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 usage note that begins, "The term 'oriental' has an out-of-date feel as a term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
> 


CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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