ZZBunker wrote:

> Kevin Gowen <kgowenNOSPAM@myfastmail.com> wrote in message news:<2qcmltFtp9kgU3@uni-berlin.de>...
> 
>>Curt Fischer wrote:
>>
>>
>>>necoandjeff wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>"Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp> wrote in message
>>>>news:%610d.14217$FV3.7873@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com...
>>>>
>>>>>"Just for your information, the term Eskimo is now considered
>>>>>derogatory and has been
>>>>>replaced by the more acceptable term Inuit. Eskimo is used in this
>>>>>website only as a reference
>>>>>term for our international customers who may not be aware of the term
>>>>>Inuit."
>>>>
>>>>On the scale of racially derogatory terms, where the "N" word is at
>>>>the high end (i.e. the most widely understood to be derogatory), I
>>>>think the word Eskimo would be at the low end, below even the words
>>>>Oriental and Black (both of which are still widely used) but probably
>>>>a little bit higher than the word White.
>>>>
>>>>Jeff
>>>
>>>
>>>What's so offensive about "Black"?  Is it the unneeded capital letter?
>>
>>I never understood the big deal about "oriental", either. Neither does
>>my oriental wife.
> 
> 
>   It's quite impossible for "oriental" to be derogatory. 
>   Since the word actually means "towards the Asian star",
>   not towards Asia. 
>   And it's opposite term "occidental" means "towards the sun",
>   not towards Los Angelos.

California is a very sophisticated and enlightened place. Why, they've 
finally banned sex with human corpses!
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6208717

It only took them two tries!

- Kevin