necoandjeff wrote:

> "Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp> wrote in message
> news:_Wn1d.1487$Qv5.235@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com...
> 
>>"necoandjeff" <spam@schrepfer.com> wrote in message
>>news:dJn1d.19116$0j7.2718@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com...
>>
>>>"Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp> wrote in message
>>>news:Ewi1d.15968$ZC7.3364@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...
>>>
>>>
>>>>Jeff, would you mind asking your wife what the difference is between
>>>>a 東洋人　and an アジア人？
>>>>
>>>>ムサシ
>>>
>>>I asked her and she said she considers them to be the same. And I don't
>>>think she's terribly far from the mark here either. I note the following
>>>from 大辞林:
>>>
>>>とうよう　―やう 1 【東洋】ユーラシア大陸の東部の地域。アジアの地方。特
> 
> に
> 
>>ア
>>
>>>ジアの東部および南部、すなわち中国・朝鮮・日本・インド・ミャンマー[sic]
> 
> ・
> 
>>タ
>>
>>>イ・インドネシアなどの地域をいう。
>>>
>>>Jeff
>>
>>Thanks very much Jeff. It's interesting that your wife and I define 東洋人
> 
> 　
> 
>>differently.
>>The definition above supports your wife's definition to the extent that it
>>has a wider range for
>>東洋 than I would have guessed. On the other hand, clearly the "eastern"
>>part of
>>the Eurasian continent is mentioned, which certainly would exclude places
>>such
>>as Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. These areas in English would be considered
>>"Asia" and
>>people from there, "Asians".
> 
> 
> In American English, I don't think people from Afghanistan would be
> considered ethnically Asian by that many people.

This is why I have a problem with geographic terms such as Asian or
African being used as ethnic descriptors. Nelson Mandela is African, but
so was Mr. Sadat. Hamid Karzai is just as Asian as Hu Jintao.

- Kevin