Why is it that whites are "white"...

[Boris Godunov]

Can an Iranian or an Iraqi be an Asian-American or is there another term for them, something like Middle-Eastern-American?

Honest question. The customs of your country anger and confuse me.

The most polite thing they can expect is to be lumped together as "A-rabs."

[Drake Tungsten]

I feel that "camel-jockey" is a more inclusive term.

[Ben Kenobi]

Iranians have their own category.

[Thoth]

Can an Iranian or an Iraqi be an Asian-American or is there another term for them, something like Middle-Eastern-American?

.

"terrorist" seems to be the commonly accepted term.

[Kitschum]

Interesting, but seeing as how none of you proposed "Hajj" I might conclude that you are not fully updated on the newest ethnic slur developments!

I know I claimed to be asking honestly, but I can't resist. What about a Balochi? On the Pakistani side of the border she's a South Asian and an Asian-American, but on the Iranian side she's a cameljockey or a category of her own.

You need to straighten out your race categories, Yankee Doodles! How are you going to compete with the Chinese that just add "devil" to the end of somebody's skin color? It's not as fancy, but much more efficient.

[Thoth]

"bloody wogs" covers a lot of ground.

[Ben Kenobi]

Depends on her culture. If she's shia she'll likely be considered to be Persian.

If she's sunni, she'd be considered South Asian.

[Thoth]

Either way she's still a bloody wog.

[Caligastia]

It's actually different in the US than in the UK.

That's what I meant when I said it means different things to different people.

That said, "Oriental" is used to describe things like Oriental rugs and objects from the Near East, not the Far East, and is based on the assumption that we're still in Europe; East Asia is actually West of America.

I haven't seen it used in that way before. If that's a common usage then I guess it has the same problem as the term "Asian".

Additionally, Asian-American is preferred precisely because it includes people of East Asian (aka, Oriental), Southeast Asian (they look Chinese, sorta), and South Asian.

I think most people would think of East Asians when the term "Asian-American" is uttered. I've never heard anyone use it to refer to South Asians (from the Indian subcontinent).

[Dinner]

I feel that "camel-jockey" is a more inclusive term.

Their all hajjis to me.

[Dinner]

Interesting, but seeing as how none of you proposed "Hajj" I might conclude that you are not fully updated on the newest ethnic slur developments!

It's hajji and not hajj.

[Q Classic]

Can an Iranian or an Iraqi be an Asian-American or is there another term for them, something like Middle-Eastern-American?

Honest question. The customs of your country anger and confuse me.

Amusingly enough, Iranians are not Arabs. But yes, they're included in the Asian-American umbrella.

[Q Classic]

I haven't seen it used in that way before. If that's a common usage then I guess it has the same problem as the term "Asian".

It does and it doesn't. For one thing, it gets rid of the Eurocentric problem, where we're described on the basis of the location where our ancestry is from in relation to you: "from the East", and described instead where our ancestry is from: "from Asia".

"Oriental" also has the problem of being a little exclusionary: we're different, we're other, foreign, exotic, most definitely not American. So it's a deprecated, generally frowned upon term.

Am I personally offended? No, but that's also because the people who do use it tend to be older and therefore I can forgive them for not being completely up-to-date with preferred terminology.

I think most people would think of East Asians when the term "Asian-American" is uttered. I've never heard anyone use it to refer to South Asians (from the Indian subcontinent).

In the US? Quite possibly, largely because East Asians are the larger group overall, as well as the more politically active segment of the umbrella group. That said, when people refer to South Asians, the terminology they will use is invariably "Indian", which, it is my understanding, is about as offensive to a Bengali or Pakistani as calling a Korean or Japanese person Chinese would be.

"Asian-American" sidesteps that, and also underscores the fact that we're still, fundamentally, American.

[Caligastia]

It does and it doesn't. For one thing, it gets rid of the Eurocentric problem, where we're described on the basis of the location where our ancestry is from in relation to you: "from the East", and described instead where our ancestry is from: "from Asia".

"Oriental" also has the problem of being a little exclusionary: we're different, we're other, foreign, exotic, most definitely not American. So it's a deprecated, generally frowned upon term.

Am I personally offended? No, but that's also because the people who do use it tend to be older and therefore I can forgive them for not being completely up-to-date with preferred terminology.

I think it would be silly for anyone to get offended by the term "Oriental" - it's not an explicit perjorative. Personally, I'm used to saying "Asian", and have never used the "Oriental" term. That's just because it's what I'm used to though.

In the US? Quite possibly, largely because East Asians are the larger group overall, as well as the more politically active segment of the umbrella group. That said, when people refer to South Asians, the terminology they will use is invariably "Indian", which, it is my understanding, is about as offensive to a Bengali or Pakistani as calling a Korean or Japanese person Chinese would be.

"Asian-American" sidesteps that, and also underscores the fact that we're still, fundamentally, American.

There's no good reason for people to be offended by such things. I'm originally from New Zealand, and although we have a healthy rivalry with Australians I would never be offended by someone mistaking me for one.

[Ben Kenobi]

Yet Canadians are offended when they are mistaken for Americans. Go figure.