On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 22:51:35 GMT, "necoandjeff" <spam@schrepfer.com>
wrote:

>"Kevin Gowen" <kgowenNOSPAM@myfastmail.com> wrote in message
>news:2qempnFtp9kgU8@uni-berlin.de...
>> necoandjeff 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.
>> >
>> >
>> > 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.
>>
>> Well, thank God that we have educated California sophisticates like
>> Barbra Streisand and Rosie O'Donnell to enlighten us rubes.
>
>You obviously haven't visited. What is unique about California isn't our
>sophistication (well there's that too), it is the number of Asians and Asian
>Americans we have living here.
>
>> See, I mentioned God with a straight face. That shows what an uneducated
>> hick I am.
>
>Unfortunately, the God stuff isn't confined only to uneducated hicks in this
>country. Although there does appear to be some sort of correlation between
>strong religious beliefs and both lower levels of education and ruralness.
>
>> That aside, your post is not responsive. I understand that some people
>> get their dander up ("get upset" for you sophisticates in California)
>> when they hear "oriental" used to refer to a human being. My statement
>> questioned why.
>
>I don't know but who cares? The reason why certain words come to conjure up
>certain images is sometimes difficult to trace. But the negative image that
>is conjured up in the minds of many out here (and I don't think this is
>confined to California by any means) when someone uses the word "Oriental"
>is unmistakable. What I want to know is what someone gains from continuing
>to use a word that some people may consider offensive?

In the UK, 'Asian' is reserved for south asian peoples like those from
India and the other more easterly asians are all more often than not
called 'oriental' unless they're often mistakenly just called
'Chinese' which from my experience significantly pisses off more non
chinese asians than anythnig else I can think of.


-------------------------------------------------------------
  Dale Walker       London Techno Events   Saiko!             
  dale@sorted.org   london@sorted.org      saiko@sorted.org   
  London, UK        london.sorted.org      saiko.sorted.org