Terminology

[Uhu]

How do you feel about the term "half-caste"? Personally, I hate it because I associate it with apartheid in South Africa. I prefer to use the term mix-race for my twin DS and when people call them half-caste, I always correct them. Am I being pedantic?

Katiemac - I made a comment about potatoes/irish which I feel able to do as I am of irish parentage. My uncle was once referred to as a "bogtrotter" from a non-irish person

Oriental is consider offensive?

Is it not a matter of geography, I mean Occidental wouldn't be offensive surely

It 's all very interesting isn't it

Am i right in what it means - is it just for girls or boys too?

Interesting thread on the 'oriental' debate on the Japan Today forum . A few people point out that the term should strictly speaking only be used for inanimate objects. I'd be interested to hear the views of any 'oriental' mums here.

Katiemac, if you mean 'pickney' (not sure how it is spelt either), it refers to children in general.

Pickney widely used in Jamaica - certainly not considered offensive there

well the oriental father in my family doesn't find it offensive and as a mother of half oriental children nor do I

Can you explain the gist of why it is offensive in the US? Is it something to do with objectification?

I have no idea why it's offensive, Suzy. I remember I said it once about someone years ago and my husband was shocked and said you can't say that. It's not as bad as saying the N word, but it's certainly not politically correct.

You'll probably find this interesting Suzy.

I am chinese and don't find the word oriental offensive, other chinese people I know also don't find it offensive. However, I know that the reason it is found offensive is because oriental is connected with china ornaments etc and some people think our description should be connected to our race/geography as opposed to items!

One last thing though is that I always tend to call myself chinese as opposed to oriental.

The same way I call myself "English", not "European".

although thinking about it, I actually say british chinese as a large part of my identity is british having been born and bred in london.

I thought that oriental was offensive because it means "from the east" (not sure if it does, though, might have this totally wrong), and by saying you're from the east you are immediately saying that where we live is the point from which everyone else's location is measured - which is therefore egotistical. Does that make sense?

Yingers do you know about the British Born Chinese Artists Association? It does a lot of events relating to identity in Britain will try and find a link tomorrow. Thanks for your link

We always say Chinese as opposed to Oriental even though DH's parents were born and bred in Malaysia, he does have at least one born in China grandparent.

If people ask me what the kids' ancestory is I say their father's family is Chinese

and your link KATG

fisil, i think oriental does mean 'from the east' but i don't think chinese/japanese/koreans etc etc find the word offensive for this reason. I also don't think many people who can be said to be oriental ever actually say 'i am oriental', they tend to say 'i am japanese etc etc'.

no never heard of it! Would be interested in the link so thanks in advance.

maybe, yingers74, it's one of those PC things that other people find offensive for you! I can kind of see the argument, but I agree that if the people it is applied to are happy about it, then fair enough. (well, actually I do get a little upset when black kids at school call themselves by the "n" word!)

here it is Yingers BCAA

it's being updated at the moment (have to laugh DH used to do their website, maybe they need to give him a call)

my primary school teacher tried to explain what "bastard" meant, "mixed races" , and then she pointed at me...

oh what a charming teacher! And I always thought bastard means 'born out of wedlock'in the olden days...

As for oriental being offensive... my friend is Phillipine but grew up in Germany. Whilst she was over here I don't think she was offended by the term, as people couldn't work out 'which race' she 'belonged' to.

lailag

Katiemac

I think the term your husband uses is "pitney" - that's what my parents, who are Jamaican, use to call my me and my brothers. It's not an offensive term and is just how parents from that part of the world address their off-spring.

Ooh, this is really interesting. Great link earlier re: the banning of 'Oriental' as a description of someone in the States.

'Pickney' may well be different from 'Picaninny' which was a terribly derogatory term used to describe black children. Further info can be found the rather frighteningly named Museum of Racist Memorabilia. (It's not a racist organisation; I double checked but I hope I'm right!)
www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/picaninny/
(Wish I could have got the link to work neatly, but spent 10 mins and gave up! apologies)

It may just be one of those words that has been appropriated and claimed to reduce its power, in much the same way as Gay, and the N word I still couldn't use.

FWIW, I always use mixed heritage as I think it's what you have inherited that is being referred to rather than anything you have chosen. The way I see it, identity is about choosing stuff by which to define yourself and your heritage may inform that, or may not, depending on your choice.

What shouldn't inform your identity is what other people decide to define you because of something over which you have no control.

Personally I dislike the term 'mixed race'for the same reasons mentioned by someone else earlier - it implies some sort of 'pure' race exists.
Crumbs, what a first post!