No problem, the word "Oriental" sets off red flags in my skull. Purely Pavlovian response.
Excuse my use of the word oriental. Damn, I'm batting a 1000 today.
Oriental (lowercase 'o') is okay to use as an adjective to describe food, medicine, rugs, etc (like how you used it earlier). It can also mean "of superior grade, luster, or value," which is pretty nice.
It's offensive when you use it as a noun (with a capital 'o') to describe a group of people.
Yo monday I installed a stove and a dishwasher in my crib and I drank so much liquids that it was crazy... I had one of those tall skinny heinikens and my wife wine cooler and like a half gallon of grape juice and then at like 1am I jumped in the car to go to Wawa for two gallons of water and then I was cool...
thx, I never quite understood the "o" vs "O" but now I know
AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!
The capitalization is not a hard and fast rule, but whether you use it as a modifier or noun is. In one of my comparative area studies classes in college, we were instructed to say "Southwest Asia" when referring to the Middle East because it was RACIST and Eurocentric.
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The usual objection to Oriental???meaning ???eastern??????is that it identifies Asian countries and peoples in terms of their location relative to Europe. However, this objection is not generally made of other Eurocentric terms such as Near and Middle Eastern. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue, the home of despotic empires and inscrutable customs. At the least these associations can give Oriental a dated feel, and as a noun in contemporary contexts (as in the first Oriental to be elected from the district) it is now widely taken to be offensive. However, Oriental should not be thought of as an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. As with Asiatic, its use other than as an ethnonym, in phrases such as Oriental cuisine or Oriental medicine, is not usually considered objectionable.
i do know that it is the home of UCSD flip-flop wearin' softies
how dare you! well, i guess everything you said is pretty much true.
anyways, i finally get to bust out my hankachis and them freebie fans you can get on the street in tokyo. my 2 favorites being a yomiuri giants fan with matsui on it, and a tower records shibuya joint with konishiki's head on it.
yesterday, the metro was all jacked up and i sat next to a dude who smelled like shit. i mean, he wasnt homeless or anything, but he was kinda heavy and i think the sweat from his ass crack was activating to shit stank. it was nasty. then a mexican lady dropped her kids beanie on the way out the train and i tried to get her attention but i couldnt think of anything but "sumimasen"! does anyone else do this? like i know about 10 words in a myriad of languages but i always revert to the foreign language i know best. like if im talking to a french dude i speak japanese or some shit.
yeah, anyways, back to yalls unsufferably hot summers outside of cali.
ps soulrez, arent you happy youre moving to nyc in the dead of summer? he he he...
I think most people today use Asian but I still hear older folks throwing "Oriental" around. It is a totally antiquated word and it does conjure up smoking opium and importing spices in my head (or in my past life, lol).
Comments
Oriental (lowercase 'o') is okay to use as an adjective to describe food, medicine, rugs, etc (like how you used it earlier). It can also mean "of superior grade, luster, or value," which is pretty nice.
It's offensive when you use it as a noun (with a capital 'o') to describe a group of people.
-PC Police
AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!
"Go, Joe!"
The capitalization is not a hard and fast rule, but whether you use it as a modifier or noun is. In one of my comparative area studies classes in college, we were instructed to say "Southwest Asia" when referring to the Middle East because it was RACIST and Eurocentric.
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The usual objection to Oriental???meaning ???eastern??????is that it identifies Asian countries and peoples in terms of their location relative to Europe. However, this objection is not generally made of other Eurocentric terms such as Near and Middle Eastern. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue, the home of despotic empires and inscrutable customs. At the least these associations can give Oriental a dated feel, and as a noun in contemporary contexts (as in the first Oriental to be elected from the district) it is now widely taken to be offensive. However, Oriental should not be thought of as an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. As with Asiatic, its use other than as an ethnonym, in phrases such as Oriental cuisine or Oriental medicine, is not usually considered objectionable.
how dare you! well, i guess everything you said is pretty much true.
anyways, i finally get to bust out my hankachis and them freebie fans you can get on the street in tokyo. my 2 favorites being a yomiuri giants fan with matsui on it, and a tower records shibuya joint with konishiki's head on it.
yesterday, the metro was all jacked up and i sat next to a dude who smelled like shit. i mean, he wasnt homeless or anything, but he was kinda heavy and i think the sweat from his ass crack was activating to shit stank. it was nasty. then a mexican lady dropped her kids beanie on the way out the train and i tried to get her attention but i couldnt think of anything but "sumimasen"! does anyone else do this? like i know about 10 words in a myriad of languages but i always revert to the foreign language i know best. like if im talking to a french dude i speak japanese or some shit.
yeah, anyways, back to yalls unsufferably hot summers outside of cali.
ps
soulrez, arent you happy youre moving to nyc in the dead of summer? he he he...
I think most people today use Asian but I still hear older folks throwing "Oriental" around. It is a totally antiquated word and it does conjure up smoking opium and importing spices in my head (or in my past life, lol).