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Originally Posted by debaser
I see what you are saying, I'm just having trouble caring. Perhaps I am just stubborn or curmudgeonly. Perhaps it's sort of a litmus test as to whether or not the person in question is too soft to continue talking to. Whatever the case may be, I really don't see myself not using the word in the future. As I mentioned above, the alternatives are useless.
If I point to a crowd of people containing a Russian, an Arab, an Indian, and a Korean and tell anybody in the US about the oriental guy, they will know exactly who I am talking about.
Being of European descent, I have no problem whatsoever using eurocentric terms (as one poster above mentioned) in my everyday vocabulary.
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Actually, if you point to the same crowd of people in the US, and point out the Asian guy, they know exactly who you are talking about too. I'm American, but in general, at least in the English use of the word, we are not talking about someone from Paraguay or Costa Rica, but someone from the US. It's just how it works.
Use of oriental here in California, where there is a significant Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese presence, is very much frowned upon, and, if said in the presence of most Asians, will cause friction.