for the people from the UK, please answer this oddity
when people from the UK use the term "asian" when they are talking about race, they are referring to people from south asia, like india, pakistan, and bangladesh.
even people from the middle east like saudi arabia, kuwait, iran, and turkey can be termed "asian" too, right?
in the US, the term asian refers to people from east asia, like china, japan, korea, vietnam, thailand, philippines, and such.
do people from the UK and the US ever get confused when they talk to each other and use that term "asian"?
'Asian' refers to China, India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, etc. For those from the Middle East they would probably be termed Arab or Middle Eastern. They have different features from Asians, so it'd be a bit wrong to call them that.
I don't think I've ever talked to an American about a general Asia. If I was discussing something I would be referring to a specific country or region rather than half the continent.
Technically, "asian" can mean ANYWHERE in asia regardless of which side of the atlantic you're on.
However, I tend to find in England asian tends to mean south asian/middle eastern more so than east asian. And on American websites etc, I tend to find it's more eastern asian. I tend to use it as its definition is intended (That is, if I say Asian, it could mean practically anything.)
If you're on a porn site and search "asian", you tend to get East Asian chicks, I find....
And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil. One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. And terror possesed me then. And I begged, "Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?" And the angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots! -- Not a vegetarian
what i would assume would be meant by asian would be chinese, japanese, korean (that end of the world) as well as indian, pakistani, (that kinda area) but also iraqui and people from afghanistan (spelling??) (the people you see on the news about the wars)
too many places to mention and my geography is not all that good.
mand x
Mand, South Wales, Full-time working, single mother to 2 scarily independent girls.
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I take the term Asian to mean anyone from Asia. If I'm being more specifc then I will say what country I'm talking about but could be anywhere in Asia: south, east, west etc
'Asian' refers to China, India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, etc. For those from the Middle East they would probably be termed Arab or Middle Eastern. They have different features from Asians, so it'd be a bit wrong to call them that.
I don't think I've ever talked to an American about a general Asia. If I was discussing something I would be referring to a specific country or region rather than half the continent.
in uk: i say asian for indian/pakistani/south asia. for the other half of asia i will usually say the country but that is only because i find it pretty easy to distinguish what country people come from in that part.
in america i know when people say asian they mean chinese/japanese/korean etc.
i say asian all the time. mostly because i don't know what particular country most people come from and if i see someone and i say to my friend look at that asian girl it is probably easier than saying look at that girl who is maybe indian or pakistani, etc.
i find it weird that in america i would be classified as asian though. here i think most people call me chinese or "oriental" (which i hate).
If you're on a porn site and search "asian", you tend to get East Asian chicks, I find....
Lol, I love the idea of porn deciding nationality!
Seriously though, I have never found it a problem but then I would say normally I am more specific. Probably because we have a very multi cultural mix at my school and so you begin to recognise the differences in appearance and dialect.
System A
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I had a discussion about this with a Bangladeshi friend of mine a year or so ago. Previously, I used the term 'Asian' to refer to Oriental/East-Asians. Now though, I'd probably use the term interchangably for both East and Southern Asians, although if they are from the Indian Sub-continent (India and Pakistan) i'd be more likely to use the term Indian.
If you come from the Middle East, you are not Asian.
I was actually thinking about this on a bus the other day...how strange. But i didnt have an answer for it i just thot arght thats my stop then forgot what i was thinking about....
I didn't know that people in the UK used the term Asian differently than we do in the United States. I know that Asian can refer to anyone from that continent, but the image I would have in my head would be of someone from the east. If I know the actual country someone is from, I use that if needed. But personally, I can't tell what country someone is from just by looking at them.
i am in UK and we call anyone from the Asian continent "asian" because they ARE!! everyone from chinese to indian to pakistaini are all from Asia so they r all ASIAN! the US are the ones who have it wrong... or rele diferent for no reason.
Last edited by My_Name_Is_Aiden : 28-06-2009 at 09:12 PM.
Reason: more words duh
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All in all is all we are
