On Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:49:33 -0700, Dan Abel > wrote:

>In article >,
>wrote:
>
>> Dan Abel > writes:
>>
>>
>> > I looked it up. The adjective is dated, the noun is both dated and
>> > sometimes offensive.
>>
>>
>> I looked it up, too, Dan:
>>
>> "Oriental has been used by the West as a term to describe cultures,
>> countries, peoples and goods from the Orient. "Oriental" means
>> generally "eastern". It is a traditional designation (especially when
>> capitalized) for anything belonging to the Orient or "East" (for
>> Asia), and especially of its Eastern culture"
>>
>> Why is it bleeding heart liberals gotta invent bogus issues to assuage
>> their guilt? Just cuz someone ....a non-Asian, no doubt.... says
>> "oriental" is offensive, it's so? Horse hockey!! I've never even
>> imagined the term in a derogatory context. Sorry. No intention, no
>> foul.
>
>I probably should have quoted it literally, and provided an attribution.
>It wasn't a bleeding heart liberal source. It is the New Oxford
>American Dictionary, which came with my Mac:
>
>oriental (also Oriental)
>
>adjective
>
>1 of, from, or characteristic of the Far East : oriental countries.
>
>? dated of, from, or characteristic of the countries of Asia.
>
>noun ( Oriental) dated, often offensive
>
>a person of Far Eastern descent.
>
>USAGE The term Oriental, denoting a person from the Far East, is
>regarded as offensive by many Asians, esp. Asian Americans. It has many
>associations with European imperialism in Asia. Therefore, it has an
>out-of-date feel and tends to be associated with a rather offensive
>stereotype of the people and their customs as inscrutable and exotic.
>Asian and more specific terms such as East Asian, Chinese, and Japanese
>are preferred.

Many dictionaries like to call themselves Oxford.

The OED doesn't mention a negative connotation; however , it does
appear to be present on a minor scale.

From Wiki....

The term "Oriental" (from the Latin word for "Eastern")[33] was
originally used in Europe in reference to the Near East. It was later
extended to the rest of Asia, but came to refer to Northeast Asians
and Southeast Asians in the 19th and 20th century US,[34] where most
Asians were Chinese (and later Japanese and Filipino). By the late
20th century, the term had gathered associations in North America with
older attitudes now seen as outmoded, and was replaced with the term
"Asian" as part of the updating of language concerning social
identities,[35] which critics have derided as political
correctness.[36] In Europe however use of the term oriental for an
east Asian has no negative connotations attached and is commonly used
since here 'Asian' is taken to mean a South Asian. Note particularly
that, in the UK at least, Indian people (for example) are considered
Asian but not Oriental, giving credence to the point that the term
'Oriental' now means 'East Asian' rather than any meaning related to
the Greenwich Meridian and it's colonial links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_people

--
mad