Well, I think that it's better to be called "oriental" than "asian" because then you include Tibet, Mongolia, Russia, and other countries that are more ethnicly diverse. "Oriental" to me means someone who is descended from the area formerly known as the "Orient". This is a narrower term than "Asian" because at least I know they are from South East Asia. There we go, now we'll call them South East Asianers. Marco Polo didn't say he was going to trade spices and gun powder with the Asians. No one would have known where the hell he was going. "Asia" covers half the world. The South West Asian Liberation Medal is for the liberation of Kuwait, not Thailand which is in the South West area of the Orient. It is geograpically helpful to use the term Oriental.
I lived in Korea, Japan, and spent time in the Phillipines, Thailand and Vietnam when I was in the military and there are obvious differences in people from different ethnic backgrounds. The generalization that all whites/americans(a generalization that I sould take offense to, since I am not from Canada or Equador) cannot tell the difference is stupid. Can the *insert whatever pc term* tell where I am from? There is more ethnic diversity here than in all of SE Asia. You should not be able to use the term "American" because that too includes many different ethnic and cultural people with borders and countries. I want to be called a "United States of Americaner". I get tired of being put into the same group as the Canadians, can't anyone else tell the difference?
Wouldn't it just be more polite to ask "Hey, where are you from?"
When I met the brother of a girl I was dating, I asked from what parn of Iran he was from. He replied, "I am PERSIAN, not Iranian." She said that in fact they were all born in Tehran, and that Persia ceased to exist a thousand years ago or so. And that her brother was an ass.
Well, now we cant use "Brits" either.
Flame away,
Brit (wait, can I keep my name, it might offend someone?)