.__. I have mixed feelings about words being offensive.
*just looked up quim o.O never heard it before* I have a friend who recently was like, "Don't use the word douche!" Of which I was completely confused. (She also told my other friend not to use the word dick.) So I've been thinking about it a lot, and most cuss (forbidden) words are either sexual (which I see as the remnants of a prudish culture) or, like with chink, racial.
Um, with any thing sexual, I realized that words are only as offensive as you make them, and I don't feel particularly offended by sex, so I just see sexual cuss words as something I use when I'm mad, like emphasis.
Racial cuss words are something else... because they represent a hatred for someone for no reason at all.
That being said, for me, I feel that it's the person using that word that gives that word its offensiveness. People who use oriental to lump all asians together and make stereotypes, that's what's offensive. People who use oriental as an innocent synonym to asian, I don't find it offensive. Oriental wasn't really used in a hateful way, at least that's how I feel.
I am so, so confused over hispanic vs latino, though I have heard this before. ^^; I get a little reverse annoyed when I'm talking about my roommates, who are Mexican - they make Mexican jokes all the time (like my family making Japanese jokes), and so I've picked up on that, and sometimes I'll be talking about my roommates and say they're Mexican. And sometimes people will be like, "Don't say Mexican omg so offensive" and I'm just like..... but they're Mexican, as in, their family is from Mexico and they go there all the time. -__-
The main reason Mexican is offensive is it's used the same way oriental may have been used, to refer to all latinos as dirty, thieving gardeners (or something like that...), and it's garnered all sorts of negative connotations. I'm confused as to hispanic being negative because most of the uneducated, prejudice people I know do use Mexican to refer to latinos. It's like lumping all asians together as Chinese - many of the newer immigrants coming now are from Guatemala and El Salvador, so it's showing how ignorant the prejudice people are. (Hence my defensiveness... but my roommates really are Mexicans... just like people from Japan are Japanese... people from Canada are Canadian... I should be able to refer to them by their country of descent.) Um, if you understand the difference with hispanic, please let me know... o.O
UUMMM I guess what I'm trying ot say is ^^;; it comes down to the feelings behind the word... if you know the fanfic author was just using orient = asian, I'd just let it go. If they seem totally ignorant about asian stereotypes, then it's time to be offended. ^^;;;; Ummmmmmmmm yeah....
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*just looked up quim o.O never heard it before* I have a friend who recently was like, "Don't use the word douche!" Of which I was completely confused. (She also told my other friend not to use the word dick.) So I've been thinking about it a lot, and most cuss (forbidden) words are either sexual (which I see as the remnants of a prudish culture) or, like with chink, racial.
Um, with any thing sexual, I realized that words are only as offensive as you make them, and I don't feel particularly offended by sex, so I just see sexual cuss words as something I use when I'm mad, like emphasis.
Racial cuss words are something else... because they represent a hatred for someone for no reason at all.
That being said, for me, I feel that it's the person using that word that gives that word its offensiveness. People who use oriental to lump all asians together and make stereotypes, that's what's offensive. People who use oriental as an innocent synonym to asian, I don't find it offensive. Oriental wasn't really used in a hateful way, at least that's how I feel.
I am so, so confused over hispanic vs latino, though I have heard this before. ^^; I get a little reverse annoyed when I'm talking about my roommates, who are Mexican - they make Mexican jokes all the time (like my family making Japanese jokes), and so I've picked up on that, and sometimes I'll be talking about my roommates and say they're Mexican. And sometimes people will be like, "Don't say Mexican omg so offensive" and I'm just like..... but they're Mexican, as in, their family is from Mexico and they go there all the time. -__-
The main reason Mexican is offensive is it's used the same way oriental may have been used, to refer to all latinos as dirty, thieving gardeners (or something like that...), and it's garnered all sorts of negative connotations. I'm confused as to hispanic being negative because most of the uneducated, prejudice people I know do use Mexican to refer to latinos. It's like lumping all asians together as Chinese - many of the newer immigrants coming now are from Guatemala and El Salvador, so it's showing how ignorant the prejudice people are. (Hence my defensiveness... but my roommates really are Mexicans... just like people from Japan are Japanese... people from Canada are Canadian... I should be able to refer to them by their country of descent.) Um, if you understand the difference with hispanic, please let me know... o.O
UUMMM I guess what I'm trying ot say is ^^;; it comes down to the feelings behind the word... if you know the fanfic author was just using orient = asian, I'd just let it go. If they seem totally ignorant about asian stereotypes, then it's time to be offended. ^^;;;; Ummmmmmmmm yeah....