Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/09/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]to add the final clarification on this: oriental and occidental refer to things, actual objects: oriental rugs, cooking, antiques, etc. asian refer to people. but i do call all my white friends occidentals. doug On 9/22/03 2:03 PM, "Marc James Small" <msmall@infionline.net> wrote: > At 05:47 PM 9/21/03 -0700, Eric Welch wrote: >> Not really. A lot of Asians take great offense at being called >> Orientals. > > Eric > > I have never heard this before and it rather puzzles me. > > The term is an old one, dating back to the Mediterranian bias of the Roman > Empire. From the Roman perspective, the World was roughly divided into the > Occident (the lands of the setting sun) and the Orient (the lands of the > rising sun). Whyever would this be racist? > > The Orient, as time went on, became subdivided into the Near East, > South-West Asia, India, South-East Asia, and the Far East. > > I'll have to ask my Oriental friends about this. Perhaps they would rather > be called Far Eastians? > > Marc > > msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 > Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html