Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Jocelynn]

Dear Teacher:
I learn from the book that the usage of politically correct is to respect different groups. People now are taught to be more careful about their use of language, and be sensitive to differences among various groups of people.
The following are two examples in the book:
Less Politically Correct- Orientals Politically Correct - Asians
Less Politically Correct- mankind Politically Correct - humanity
I am wondering why orientals and mankind are not good words?
Are there any reason or how these words derive from

[pugachevV]

Political correctness is sometimes unfathomable. I see no reason why Asians should be preferred over Orientals.
The reason mankind is supposedly wrong, is that it contains "man" and that has doubtless spoiled the day of every woman in the entire world. Even those who are much too busy trying to find food for their families to bother with this nonsense.
Actually, now I think about it, "Humanity" also contains the same three letters and probably should be written hupersonity to satisfy the PC police.

[CP]

The reason that Oriental is not politically correct is that it is Eurocentric. Asian is politically correct because it just refers to the area, Asia.

Oriens means rising in Latin, and occidens means setting. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so from a European point of view, Asia is in the east (oriental) and the Americas are in the west (occidental).

Calling anything in Asia oriental therefore implies that the correct point of view is that of Europe, hence is Eurocentric, hence is offensive to the rest of the world. Politically incorrect!

I suppose the people at Occidental College in Los Angeles should be furious now and change the school's name to Angeleno College immediately.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[pugachevV]

I guess English is a European language, and might be expected to be eurocentric. How can it be offensive to use an English word that means, according to the Oxford Dictionary, "a. Of or or characteristic of, Eastern civilisation, etc., b.of or concerning the East, esp. E. Asia "?

The entire world figures latitude from Greenwich England, which is 0 degrees and counts Eastward, or Westward from that point, so is it an an insult to live east of the Mediterranean, or for that matter, east of the Rockies?

I don't feel insulted if a Chinese man or woman refers to me as an Occidental. He is merely stating a fact.

[CP]

I don't feel insulted being called an Occidental, either. Political correctness doesn't have to be logical or reasonable.

People are so careful these days to call the descendants of indigenous North American peoples Native Americans rather than Indians or American Indians. I have a little Indian blood, and I don't feel insulted with the term Indian, nor especially elevated by the term Native American. I know that the ancestors of the Native Americans came from Asia -- they were Orientals! -- so native is a relative term. And they were called Indians in the first place because the explorers thought they had found a shortcut to India.

I like to think of myself as an Earthling. That's what the Martians call me.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb