Life In 19x19

Brooklyn wrote:The term "oriental" is generally considered inappropriate to use to refer to people, not just by Chinese-Americans, but by a substantial percentage of English speaking East Asians around the world. While referring to a rug or a mall as oriental can be acceptable, referring to a person as oriental has been mostly phased out and is considered politically incorrect not just in the US but internationally as well.

What is the substantial percentage? I found a reasonable sounding discussion of the topic here https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... pejorative , but my main take away point was that Asian-Americans were more likely to find the word Oriental offensive than Asian-'Europeans', given that a listed reason for the offense was the tie in with European Imperialism. Now I am really quite curious to know why that is likely to be. Is it down to the whole Vietnam War fiasco? Or is it down to people in the USA being more vocal about what they believe to be offensive?

Generally speaking, I am slightly sceptical about the whole geopoliticalpseudoracialidenititycrisis of our modern world. For example, British Isles is now an offensive term, but it is a staple of the modern atlas. Second example, I come from a region which has NO name which is not considered as offensive by particular strain. I can't even refer to it here, other than saying THAT THERE PLACE HEH BAE, as a result. Whilst some may choose to be offended, or may actually be offended, by the use of the O word by John Fairbairn, I think I find his defense rather reasonable. If people are offended though, that can only be a good thing. We need more tears and suffering
in this world.

Javaness2 wrote:

Brooklyn wrote:The term "oriental" is generally considered inappropriate to use to refer to people, not just by Chinese-Americans, but by a substantial percentage of English speaking East Asians around the world. While referring to a rug or a mall as oriental can be acceptable, referring to a person as oriental has been mostly phased out and is considered politically incorrect not just in the US but internationally as well.

What is the substantial percentage? I found a reasonable sounding discussion of the topic here https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... pejorative ,

Thank you for that reference. I looked over the discussion briefly, and may have missed something, but my main takeaway from it is two-fold: 1) People are guessing about how and why referring to a person as oriental is considered offensive; 2) Nobody has observed it being used as a pejorative.

but my main take away point was that Asian-Americans were more likely to find the word Oriental offensive than Asian-'Europeans', given that a listed reason for the offense was the tie in with European Imperialism. Now I am really quite curious to know why that is likely to be. Is it down to the whole Vietnam War fiasco? Or is it down to people in the USA being more vocal about what they believe to be offensive?

IMO, it has nothing to do with the Vietnam War. The racist terms, gook and slope, were used back then. Besides, political correctness had not yet become a thing.

BTW, in the referenced discussion, one guess that people made is wrong. "Oriental" is not a Euro-centric term. Europe is Occidental.

Throughout most of history, the Orient has been the place of high civilization. The East-West divide goes back at least to the Greeks and the Parthians. Alexander conquered "the world" ( ), but Cyrus became the King of Kings. Westerners may talk of the fall of the Roman Empire, but that was only of the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire continued for at least another millennium. It is only in modern times that the West became dominant. I suppose that the final blow was the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI and its dissolution. Or perhaps it was the dissolution of the Soviet Empire.

The military dominance of the West may have spawned derogatory views of Easterners by some Westerners, but I have never observed such attitudes among devotees of go. Speaking for myself, I became interested in Oriental philosophy at age 11, and for me Oriental has always been a term of reverence. That some people regard it as a term of denigration is to me a crying shame.

BTW, since people seem to be guessing as to why that has happened, it would probably make a good master's thesis in linguistics for someone.

This article does suggest that its origins lie in the Vietnam War https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-amer ... al-n875601
With a brief reading my first impression is that the skunking of Oriental mainly lies in reaction to racism. It isn't that people actually found the word Oriental offensive, though it seems they now do, it is that they rebranded themselves to forcibly access equality. It's an interesting topic.

This year may be a year about Asia.

Baduk has dual stories for South Korea and Japan, with China— interestingly— in the middle, perhaps so far balanced best. Although one day we may see a player and miss the country .

A year is a long time in byoyomi

Javaness2 wrote:A year is a long time in byoyomi

Even in correspondence go.

Javaness2 wrote:This article does suggest that its origins lie in the Vietnam War https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-amer ... al-n875601
With a brief reading my first impression is that the skunking of Oriental mainly lies in reaction to racism. It isn't that people actually found the word Oriental offensive, though it seems they now do, it is that they rebranded themselves to forcibly access equality. It's an interesting topic.

Thanks for the reference. So the term, Asian-American was adopted by a group fighting racist stereotypes in 1968. Still, the article claims that oriental was or is pejorative without evidence. It does reference racist stereotyping employed by British imperialists, but I think that imperialists of the time preferred the term, wog, to indicate racial inferiority.

This discussion and some of the explanations for why the term is objectionable evokes Said's Orientalism for me: https://www.amazon.com/Unknown-Oriental ... 981&sr=8-1

Given the eclectic interests of many on L19, this might be an enjoyable read. (In fact, I just realized that while I've had many conversations about the book and been assigned parts of it, I've never actually read it cover to cover. So, I might read it as well

FWIW, my take is that choosing a different word is a small price to pay to avoid offense.

According to Webster's Dictionary:

oriental adjective
ori·​en·​tal | \ˌȯr-ē-ˈen-tᵊl \
Definition of oriental (Entry 1 of 2)
1 or Oriental : of, relating to, or situated in the orient
2 or Oriental : of, relating to, or coming from Asia and especially eastern Asia
oriental food
oriental art
—now sometimes considered offensive especially when used to describe a person

Oriental noun
Definition of Oriental (Entry 2 of 2)
dated, now usually offensive : ASIAN
especially : one who is a native of east Asia or is of east Asian descent

In 2016, a law was passed that prohibits the use of the words "oriental" and "negro" in US federal law.

Webster's Dictionary is an American dictionary and the law that was passed is an American piece of legislation. However, it is American English that has usually become the lingua franca for East Asians and therefore if speaking with an English speaking person of East Asian descent on an international forum, it is safe to assume that there is a reasonable chance that individual will take offense to the term oriental.

Change is a constant and what society considers acceptable in the past may not be in accepted in the present or future. In the 1960's the African-Americans were referred to as "colored people" by the majority of society but that term is no longer used.

The relevant point is often obfuscated by debates about political correctness. Examples on the extremes are brought up about people being over sensitive to being called certain terms and where the line should be drawn about revising one's vocabulary to be sensitive to the feelings of a few outliers that take offense too easily.

The relevant point is that if one is aware that there is a reasonable chance that the usage of a term will be offensive and hurtful to other people, then human decency dictates that one should refrain from using that term if at all possible.

JohnFairbairn and others on this forum - you are all now fully informed that when speaking with English speaking East Asians, the usage of the term oriental when referring to them will have a reasonable chance of offending that person. The reasons for why they take offense, if those reasons are justified, these are all tangents that closed minded people usually focus on while paying no mind to the fact that you are willfully and knowingly causing offense to another human being. Some sort of combination of fairness, privilege, historical right, what have you.... results in a self-justification to use a derogatory term that is hurtful to some people.

This was mentioned twice:

Still, the article claims that oriental was or is pejorative without evidence.

2) Nobody has observed it being used as a pejorative.

I have.

This thread is getting controversial and off-topic.

Brooklyn wrote:Change is a constant and what society considers acceptable in the past may not be in accepted in the present or future. In the 1960's the African-Americans were referred to as "colored people" by the majority of society but that term is no longer used.

FWIW, colored person was my late wife's term for herself.

The relevant point is often obfuscated by debates about political correctness.

Oh? As far as I can tell from the references given and other sources -- not that I am going to write a thesis on this question -- political correctness is the point.

The relevant point is that if one is aware that there is a reasonable chance that the usage of a term will be offensive and hurtful to other people, then human decency dictates that one should refrain from using that term if at all possible.

To be sure, one should refrain from hurting others, if possible, but offending others is another question. Giving offense is part of life. Taking offense is also part of life, but one over which one has more control. Misunderstanding is also part of life, but one which we can work to remedy and overcome.

JohnFairbairn and others on this forum - you are all now fully informed that when speaking with English speaking East Asians, the usage of the term oriental when referring to them will have a reasonable chance of offending that person.

Do you not see that the phrase, "fully informed" is PC talk? You are putting yourself in the place of laying down the law and issuing a warning. John Fairbairn is a long time student of oriental languages and cultures. He would not have chosen to make those studies without a great respect for oriental cultures and peoples. Language changes, yes, but his is a voice that deserves to be heard, not dismissed as closed minded.

EdLee wrote:This was mentioned twice:

Still, the article claims that oriental was or is pejorative without evidence.

2) Nobody has observed it being used as a pejorative.

I have.

I'm sure that if you look you will find evidence, but was it used as a stock pejorative phrase in the same way that the n-word was? I think that kind of evidence would be far more convincing. The basic problem being that nobody in the UK, for example, every went round saying things like "You behave yourself or you'll have to sit on the Oriental step".

EdLee wrote:This was mentioned twice:

Still, the article claims that oriental was or is pejorative without evidence.

2) Nobody has observed it being used as a pejorative.

I have.

Thanks, Ed.
Edited.

Hi Bill,