Definition of Asian
 

I had a conversation with someone about this and thought people here might be interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Asian

Those interested in the history of Chinese immigration in NZ (since 1842) might like this link:

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/chinese

http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/p504atl.jpg

That looks like quite a good website by the way.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

This really surprised me when I first came here.

In my hometown of Oldham, there is a large Indian, Pakistan and Bangladesh community - known to everybody as the Asian community. As it states above, anybody from South East Asia would usually have been referred to as Oriental, which sounds like a throwback to the days of the British Empire.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

Asian to me is Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi. I think in terms of Chinese, Korean & Japanese as being from the Far east, but I don't think of them in terms of oriental TBH. I see them in terms of their individual nationality.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

Never used the term "Asian" til we got here.
Now it just defines shit drivers.

DLA........drives like an Asian. Policeman told me that!

Re: Definition of Asian
 

I want to make it clear that I started this thread purely to be informative, so any subsequent racist comments are not the opinion of the OP.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

For me its ...

Asian = India/Pakistan.

Oriental = China, Korea & Japan.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

Although Asian refers to the entire continent and all of the above groups, in my culture Asian as an adjective applied to people means Indian subcontinent, and Orientals the Far East. I think the term Oriental might have been subjected to a bit of PC airbrushing though and you don't hear it so much now, but then you don't describe us as Occidentals so you?

Re: Definition of Asian
 

I am half "Oriental", which is much more preferable than being called "Chinky" which was the norm at times in the UK.

Here in NZ no one bats an eyelid.

I kind of like Oriental, it has a air of being inscrutable and having a ingrained knowledge of Kung Fu.

I drive a car/ute/motorbike pretty well in case anyone was wondering.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

I would definitely go with Oriental if I came from that part of the world for the reasons you mention. To me "the Orient" has real gravitas, like I say the Western version Occidental is never used which is a shame. I suppose "East Asian" is another way that part of the world could be described I suppose but just doesn't have the same class as Orient.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

I am not sure what was the point of the OP however we never used the term Asian in the UK. We would have identified people according to where they came from.

I think the Kiwis use Asian as a cover all bases term to describe everyone who is neither, white, polynesian or black and whose first language is not English or European. It stumps them no-end when they are faced with someone, who on the face of it appears to be 'Asian' until they open their mouth and speak with polished cut-glass British or Scottish accents for example. :D

Oriental became very un-PC; a bit like saying coloured. It puts me in mind of Alf Garnett and ignorant old people.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

Utter Bollox!

Since when did the word "Oriental" become un-PC?

Re: Definition of Asian
 

Ages ago, apparently!!

Re: Definition of Asian
 

About the same time you couldn't say black.:unsure:

Re: Definition of Asian
 

Maybe you didn't, but most in the UK people do. Hence the quote from Wiki in my post.

Re: Definition of Asian
 

It's perfectly acceptable to call someone 'black' in the UK. In fact it was a classification on the last census.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_...United_Kingdom