When I were a wee bairn, Oriental was the only term used for East Asians and South-East Asians because 'Asian' was already taken for people from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In those days it was purely descriptive and thought to be inoffensive, though not necessarily actually inoffensive, since the thinking was that of the people using the term not the ones having it used to describe them. Since then, it's become a more loaded and difficult term, although it hasn't yet been discarded. It's sort of in that position where Black was for some time in America, where people didn't want to be described as Black, but then they kept running into British and Australian people who were black and who were all 'But mate, it's a great word and African-American takes FOREVER to say!' So many people will just attempt to not have a generic descriptor for people from the East and South-East Asian nations at all and go with 'Oh yeah, so I was out with the lads from IT and they were all taking the piss because I'm a right geezer and they're Chinese, Korean and Laotian, so no one ever chooses me when they come to the department door looking for a tech …'
It's better than the census descriptor of 'Chinese and Other' at least …
But in America, I would make an issue out of it if I were you, because there is no linguistic confusion that makes it understandable. That said, up to you, you're doing a grand job at being you! FWIW, I prefer the US/Australian use of Asian to cover the entire continent, because it simply makes sense!
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In those days it was purely descriptive and thought to be inoffensive, though not necessarily actually inoffensive, since the thinking was that of the people using the term not the ones having it used to describe them. Since then, it's become a more loaded and difficult term, although it hasn't yet been discarded. It's sort of in that position where Black was for some time in America, where people didn't want to be described as Black, but then they kept running into British and Australian people who were black and who were all 'But mate, it's a great word and African-American takes FOREVER to say!' So many people will just attempt to not have a generic descriptor for people from the East and South-East Asian nations at all and go with 'Oh yeah, so I was out with the lads from IT and they were all taking the piss because I'm a right geezer and they're Chinese, Korean and Laotian, so no one ever chooses me when they come to the department door looking for a tech …'
It's better than the census descriptor of 'Chinese and Other' at least …
But in America, I would make an issue out of it if I were you, because there is no linguistic confusion that makes it understandable. That said, up to you, you're doing a grand job at being you! FWIW, I prefer the US/Australian use of Asian to cover the entire continent, because it simply makes sense!