race [book differences?] / Dean Thomas-Tom Riddle

[emb021]

No: HPFGUIDX 40349


> rosie wrote:
> Cho Chang's name suggests an 
> > Oriental background. And yet, I don't remember any passages 
stating 
> that 
> > "Harry had a crush on Cho, a pretty Asian girl." 
> 

"GulPlum" wrote
> Strangely, another linguistic difference. :-) The immediate 
> interpretation of "Asian" in the UK would be Indian/Pakistani. 
> Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese (and that general area) = Oriental, 
> Japanese = Japanese. It's probably got something to do with our 
> colonial past.
> 

In the US, some have taken exception to the term "Oriental", 
claiming its inappropriate to refer to people by that term.  (its ok 
to speak of Oriental clothing, or furniture, or food, not people).  I 
have to wonder if they don't understand the original of the term (and 
am sure they have never heard of its 'opposite' term of 
Occidental. :) )
 
Now the term "Asian" is used in its place.  Those from 
Indian/Pakistan were never termed "Asian" for the most part here.

Michael Brown