Asians

[hallouminatus]

On another thread, I've been told that almost ALL British people use "Asians" exclusively to refer to people from the Indian sub-continent' and would not consider Chinese, Afghans, Thais, Iraqis etc to be Asian.

I think that usage has evolved, hasn't it? In the 1970s and perhaps for a couple of decades more, it was very common for the term to be used in the way that you designate as the British usage, but it feels very dated now.

Apologies, I mean the way that other posters (on threads you have been on) have designated as the British usage -- I see that you are questioning that.

I wouldn’t consider Iraq and Afghanistan to be Asian - that’s the Middle East, they are Middle Eastern. But Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean people etc are Asian!

They can be both Middle Eastern and Asian, just as Egyptians can be both Middle Eastern and African.

You’re correct.

I wouldn’t consider Iraq and Afghanistan to be Asian - that’s the Middle East,
Iraq is in the Middle East, Afghanistan isn't.

Interestingly, half of Russia is in Asia too.

I think that certainly used to be the case. Whereas in the states Asian tends to mean east Asian, Chinese, Korean, etc.
But I think a lot of South Asians in the UK do call themselves 'asian'. But increasingly they'd be more likely to say the actual country like Bangladeshi British rather than Asian British for example. Not sure why that is particularly. I guess UK and American English are blending into one another.

I'm trying to think back to before I moved to Asia, but I'm pretty sure Asian has always been ambiguous in British English (between S Asian and E Asian, or indeed SE Asian!).

But yes, "Asian" (without further qualification) in UK English is more likely to mean S Asian and in US English more likely to be E Asian. Otherwise it gets qualified.

I wonder if the ambiguity in UK English is caused by the disappearance of the word oriental (apart from in institution names).

In the UK people use South Asian to describe people from countries like India and Pakistan and East Asian to describe people from countries like South Korea and China

I’ve not heard the term Far East recently either.

Whilst I do think anyone from Asia is Asian, if someone referred to another person as “an Asian man/woman” without any other context, I would assume they meant from the Indian subcontinent area. I think that’s maybe because that is the predominant Asian population in the UK. I seem to recall that in Australia, prople
would automatically assume Chinese/Japanese/Korean.

I use Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri lankan) and then SE Asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese etc).
However, I don't usually use "British" - I use English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish

I would use Asian to mean Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi etc and would understand Oriental to mean Chinese/Japanese/Korean but I am not sure whether Oriental is now considered a slur.

I’m with @Hoppinggreen on saying I am English rather than British.

Consult a map - Afghanistan is not in the middle east!

I've just remembered a conversation about this we had with a Vietnamese friend. She questioned what English people would usually call natives of her area of the world.
'oriental' came up as one that seemed a blanket term for east and SE Asians back in the day. But we questioned that being racist seeming. Then of course there's the thing where anyone could just be called 'chinese' based on appearance.
But we didn't really come to a conclusion as to what the acceptable term is now.
I also think, if Americans called E Asians Asian, what do they call people from Indian subcontinent etc?
It is a weird one isn't it?

Sorry, I am late to the party. If someone described a person as Asian, I would automatically assume South Asian as in Indian, Pakistani or Bengali. However, if someone mentions Asian cooking , or asks about an Asian supermarket I direct them to the Chinese section or Chinese grocery store.

I'm English, and if someone just used the term "Asian" without any further clues, I would assume they were talking about someone from India or one of its neighbours. But I do recognise that that is illogical and lots of other nationalities are Asian too.

Americans do the same thing but with Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans

It's funny, for me Asian is Japanese, Koreans, Chinese. I would never refer to Indian or Pakistanis as Asian. Obviously in the UK I do but in other European countries I lived in they don't.