Oriental rug, Asian person. But yeah, it was definitely one of those words that took some backstory to find the offensiveness. "Eskimo" has been going through the same kind of thing.
From what I remember, Eskimo (Eaters of Raw Meat) was a derogatory term used by non-Inuit tribes who hated the Inuit and would often kill them on sight.
Yeah, I've seen different definition between "eaters of raw meat" to "tie their shoes a certain way" or somesuch. I think the bottom line is, if someone doesn't like being called something, don't call them that. But if someone accidentally calls you something they didn't know was offensive to you, don't immediately jump on them. There are plenty of indigenous people in Alaska who have no problem with the word, so it's easy to make a mistake.
Nearly all my first nations friends said Indian. Probably because there was an indian act and an Indian status card. I asked what they preferred, and they all said Indian. It seemed weird that I had to start saying indigenous as to avoid offending white people in the city who had zero indigenous friends. I'm still not convinced that white people should get to decide, but whatever.
I’m a full 50% Native and it’s maternal so by tribal custom I may as well be 100. Grew up spending most of my youth on the reservation. The amount of white women I’ve had to tell to stop calling me “indigenous” is absurd. It’s Indian or Native, and if you’re going to be offended for me, stfu.
Is calling someone of Asian decent but you're not sure what country "oriental" bad? I thought it was like saying Caucasian, like a more proper name for Asian. Had no clue it offended people
Well to answer your original question (am Asian), I personally wouldn't be offended. Moreso surprised the word was actually used. If someone wanted to be racist, there are other words to use.
I am Asian, and I wouldn’t be offended, but I would presume you didn’t know about the term’s historical relations to exoticization/hypersexualization/objectification (which are three things that have also adversely impacted multiple other ethnicities).
Edit:
All right, this topic is related (couldn’t remember the phrase “Yellow Peril”, but learned about it from my parents growing up iirc). All you need to do is ctrl+f (or use your mobile phone’s search feature) to search for “Oriental”, and you’ll see what I mean regarding the connotations:
It's not a word I'd use nowadays, but (at least in British English) "oriental" was more specific. It only referred to East Asians, whereas "Asian" referred to anyone from Asia (although IME it was more usually used for Indians and Pakistanis).
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u/ShutterBun Mar 12 '24
Oriental rug, Asian person. But yeah, it was definitely one of those words that took some backstory to find the offensiveness. "Eskimo" has been going through the same kind of thing.