I'm caucasian but I study Asian history, does that count? :P

I thought people were Asian, and objects were Oriental? Can you clarify please?
Asians are the real-world equivalent to Elves in fantasy games. :-)

This mortal gets it! :)


I may be wrong, but I think Oriental is more a subset of eastern Asia, you have the Indian subcontinent to the west, and bits of Russia to the north, and the Middle East to the northwest (?!) that are all also part of Asia, but not quite Oriental. Maaaay be wrong, though, but that's the way I think of it.


I haven't actually run across much racism over here in Canada. More sexism than racism for sure, though that seems natural everywhere, but even the handful of times I've ran into racism I think they've mostly come bundled with sexism anyway, so no idea which sentiment started it or is stronger. :P Heard bad stories down under though, despite the fact it's much closer to southeast asia and lots of vacationers etc go over there.

I think you're right about the geography. Indians refer to their part of the world as South Asia. That term includes Pakistan, Nepal, and a few others.

Racism/sexism never make sense, but especially not in certain places. I was in BC a few times visiting a gf and it seemed like half the population were Asian (yes, my gf was too, and she was wonderful). If anyone has a problem with Asians, they better not live around there. By the way, is the term "banana" offensive? Does it mean an ethnic Asian born in the west or one who is culturally westernized?

Interesting. I checked on Wikipedia, various dictionaries say Oriental is offensive or at least best avoided when speaking of people. But, usage varies.

Yeah, I personally don't find it offensive, but it may be so in some subcultures, not too sure. Personally have never heard of banana as a derogatory term either though. Maybe I'm just sheltered. :P

Nah. The similarity only stops at the part where we have higher INT. *zap*

I kid hah. Anyway I take back what I said about Asians and Orientals. My own conceptions of it are apaprently misguided too :O

Well, then I stand corrected :)

Er your 25 posts late for that, if your gonna say that type of thing you need to do it quickly.

Is Singapore a territory of China or something? Or are you just saying that we're not able to tell the difference between Asians?

I chuckled...

...then I lol'd

Not sure I get that or which part of that you're referring to in general. Naw, Singapore's a couple thousand km away from China (south east asia, southern tip of Malaysia). Now I'm not in Asia anymore is what I meant, culturally adjusted (mostly, living in these igloos) as can be etc. :P

This post is really strange lol. But I'm Asian. Oriental is not offensive at all. I always thought of the term to imply Eastern Asia, as opposed to all of Asia.

Indonesian here! :)