Asians and Orientals and Easterners, Oh My!
2nd July 2023
Ah, the beauty of two nations divided by a common language. When Brits say “Asians,” they formally mean anybody from the whole bloody continent of Asia (but probably not Russians except for those of the Russian Far East), but typically they mean Pakistani men of military age.
Of which the UK is now chock-full, due to Tony Blair’s attempt to import a permanent Labour majority.
When Americans say “Asians,” we formally and typically mean orientals, that is the CJK crowd and anybody else with stereotypically fair (“yellow”) skin and an epicanthic fold (part of the “slanted eyes” feature). We have different terms for Pacific Islanders, Southeast Asians, Central Asians (The Stans), Indo-Paki types, Middle Easterners, and the Turk.
Typically divided between “East Asians” and “South Asians”.