"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.

All depends on where you are (back to my point about words and meaning and
collectives). Here in San Francisco (or LA for that matter) if you were to
refer to Asians as "Orientals" you would sound like some uneducated hick
from the Midwest.

Jeff