still confusing...

I have a very dear friend from India. I never thought of him as Asian. To me (even though it's not my place to label people) the term Asian lumps too many cultures together. I never thought saying "A nice Oriental man..." as offensive, but it is? Oriental to me describes more clearly people from China, Japan etc....true Oriental countries where their culture is similar. See what I mean? I always thought of my friend as 'East Indian' and our native people as 'Indian'. I don't use the term Indian for our natives because I know for some reason it is now offensive. But in my mind...I think Indian. For example; if someone were to say 'Eskimos live in the north', I know exactly which peoples and which culture we are talking about. The other terms that I guess are (for today) to be used, are confusing because they blend too many people and cultures. Up until about two years ago we were to use the term 'African American' to describe our black people so we would know who we were talking about. Now, I understand we are not supposed to use that term. I heard someone on a talk show saying most blacks did no longer like that term....

I guess it is safer just to point and grunt.

it's not nice to point either

Maybe the moral of this story is that we should move past the whole label/categorization thing. Why is it important to you (or any of us) that you be able to apply a label to your friend?

If you must categorize this person, why not ask him/her how they would to be referred to as (pardon the dangling part.)

Why is it different to call anyone from Asia a Asian than it is to call anyone from Europe a European? We don't call them French European or Dutch European do we? Many people from Europe do have very strong features that set them aside from say anyone from the British Isles. The differance in calling someone Oriental vs Asian is like calling an American an Americana. Oriental is to describe an object and so is Americana.

Interesting. I understand what is being said, however, the reason we use labels in my opinion is not to offend, but to better understand people and their cultures. For example; the culture and beliefs between someone from China and someone from India is huge. No? Most people are good people and do not use labels to insult or offend, but to better communicate. Leasa

Yes, but there are many differences within China - difference religions (unofficially, of course), different languages (Mandarin, Cantonese) - just as there are differences within the US (Texas vs. California vs West Virginia). Applying the label of "Chinese" is misleading and tells you practically nothing about the person you are describing except for where s/he is from.