Are people from India and Afghanistan "asian"?

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:16 pm

I live in Sweden, thus I can be "european", "swedish" and "nordic".

People that live in India, are they "asian" and "indian"?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:17 pm

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:20 pm

I'm talking to this dude who says that only people from China, Japan, Korea "and those places" are asian

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:23 pm

AFAIK India is geographically lumped into the region of Southeast Asia, presumably with Indonesia being Southwest, Japan Northwest and so forth. So the people there could be described generally as 'Asian', although it's a hideously blanket term for such a vast (and varied) number of people.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:38 pm

Obfleur wrote:I'm talking to this dude who says that only people from China, Japan, Korea "and those places" are asian

"Those places" presumably refers to "the rest of Asia"... India is part of Asia.

Okay, so Asia is massively diverse from an ethnically cultural point of view, but still, in the literal sense of the term, there's absolutely nothing inaccurate about calling them Asian.

It's certainly no more inaccurate than calling a Swede or a Russian "European" rather than Scandinavian/Slav. Am I allowed to say Slav? Are Russians Slavic anyway? I don't know... Bullet, foot...

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:58 pm

I'm talking to this dude who says that only people from China, Japan, Korea "and those places" are asian

Well its the same way USA treats the rest of the continent. If I say Im "American" then I would be asked, from which (USA) State?

So peruvians, argentinians, mexicans live where? the moon?

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:10 pm

Brendocon wrote: Okay, so Asia is massively diverse from an ethnically cultural point of view, but still, in the literal sense of the term, there's absolutely nothing inaccurate about calling them Asian.

It's certainly no more inaccurate than calling a Swede or a Russian "European" rather than Scandinavian/Slav. Am I allowed to say Slav? Are Russians Slavic anyway? I don't know... Bullet, foot...

Not so much innaccurate as it is vague imo. Given what a vast area of the globe asia covers, one might as well answer 'earthling'- it would only be a slightly less helpful

"So, we've narrowed him down to this[/] hemisphere..."

In fact, wasn't the term 'Asian' derived from some British census back a century or so ago which needed a blanket term for anybody of coloured extraction who was from the not-Africa area of the world? Or something similarly hideously oblique.

edit- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia hmmm, well that's confusing o.O Doesn't look like anybody knows for sure what Asia is, so we can't decide whether someone qualifies as Asian or not

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:42 pm

Karl Lynch wrote:edit- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia hmmm, well that's confusing o.O Doesn't look like anybody knows for sure what Asia is, so we can't decide whether someone qualifies as Asian or not

Yeah, I remember having this discussion with a colleague a couple of weeks ago. He came into my office and said "what continent is Iraq part of? It was a quiz question at the weekend."

A few moments of considered silence later and five minutes on Wikipedia brought me to the definitive considered answer of "Eurasia. Probably. Maybe Africa. I'm not sure."

Good, innit? One landmass that consists of two continents... and nobody's entirely certain where one starts being the other.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:35 pm

Eh, it's a US/UK thing, isn't it? Americans call oriental-looking people "Asian" and brown-skinned people "Indian", while in the UK brown-skinned people are usually referred to as "Asian". I don't think it matters so much as long as you're not offending some Pakistani guy who would probably get annoyed if you called him Indian.

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 3:15 pm

The Last Autobot wrote:
I'm talking to this dude who says that only people from China, Japan, Korea "and those places" are asian

Well its the same way USA treats the rest of the continent. If I say Im "American" then I would be asked, from which (USA) State?

So peruvians, argentinians, mexicans live where? the moon?

South America, South Central America, and Central America respectively

And Canadians are all techinally in "North Montana". Whats that? we havent attacked yet? OH CRAP!

All Canadians disregard that last statement. There is no plan to take over. We are all happy happy.

Bouncelot · Post by **Bouncelot** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:55 pm

Brendocon wrote:
Obfleur wrote:Okay, so Asia is massively diverse from an ethnically cultural point of view, but still, in the literal sense of the term, there's absolutely nothing inaccurate about calling them Asian.
Nope. My understanding has always been that Asia meets Europe at the Ural Mountains and Africa at the Egyptian side of the Sinai Penninsula. And, of course, here in the UK, "Asian" refers to ethnic groups from the Indian subcontinent.

It's certainly no more inaccurate than calling a Swede or a Russian "European" rather than Scandinavian/Slav. Am I allowed to say Slav? Are Russians Slavic anyway? I don't know... Bullet, foot...

Yes, Russians are Slavic.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 2:03 am

drunk drunk dunkt