4 ms·
Indian-American here. One thing I often find irritating about the phrase "Asian-American" is that it's usually used to refer to people with East Asian heritage
by gautamcgoel 6y ago
Indian-American here. One thing I often find irritating about the phrase "Asian-American" is that it's usually used to refer to people with East Asian heritage (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, etc). Somehow people with South Asian heritage, like myself, often aren't included in that category, to the point that my girlfriend was surprised to hear that Indian-Americans count as Asian-American.
- tus88 6y agoWhy do you find it irritating?
- mrtweetyhack 6y agoAsians are being attacked and you're worried about semantics. I don't give a shit about your irritations.
- ttz 6y agoWhile a valid point, perhaps this article isn't the most appropriate place to raise it...
- pfarnsworth 6y agoRussians are also Asian.
- vmception 6y agoI was seeing a woman from Tatarstan, the double eyelid phenotypes were pronounces along with some other features that are even more common in East Asia. There are a lot of people in Russia like that. I had never heard of that place while in the US, its just “Russia” and an image of the part bordering the EU
- Der_Einzige 6y agoWhy are you being downvoted? Russians east of the urals look asian too!
- iamalone 6y agoYes, Some are, given that Russia "stretches over a vast expanse of Europe and Northern Asia" [1]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Russia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Russia
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
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- devmunchies 6y agoyeah but no caste system in US so consider it a win.
- mrslave 6y agoArranged marriages by parents back home is widespread.
- userbinator 6y agoThe fact that Chinese and other East Asian people look far more similar and are the stereotypical "Asian" than Indians and other South Asians is responsible for that. Likewise, there's another comment here about the Russians (North Asians). To the average American, Indian and Russian are probably separate categories from Asian.
- kibwen 6y agoI think this is a symptom of the continent of Asia being so extremely large and diverse. To wit, every definition of Asia also includes the Arabian Peninsula, but most people would probably not intuitively classify Arab Americans as Asian Americans. The appropriation of "Asian American" to almost universally mean "East Asian Americans" is probably due to the lack of a specific, pre-existing demonym to describe people from that region. It's like how South Americans can be rightfully irritated that "American" gets used to refer to someone from the US, which is also partly due to the fact that no more precise demonym ever emerged (not in English, anyway).
- sumedh 6y ago> how South Americans can be rightfully irritated that "American" gets used to refer to someone from the US USA is the only country which has America in its name.
- flukus 6y ago> To wit, every definition of Asia also includes the Arabian Peninsula Specifically the first definition, it refers to Anatolia or the Persian empire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_continent_name_etymologies#Asia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_continent_name_etymolo...) and the definition expanded from there as more and more land was being discovered. Then our terrible and arbitrary definitions of a continent got thrown into the mix.
- bordercases 6y agoIndia is considered its own subcontinent - by every definition. It features a lot of diversity in its own right. The land bridge from Alaska into Russia means Americans are Asians.
- ackbar03 6y agoThat is a bit racist. Someone should send out a memo to include you guys in these hate-crimes
- vmception 6y agoShould the petition use google forms, change.org or in person? In person, people will think you’re trying to recall Governor Newsom but I’m sure they’ll oblige on this petition too
- bradlys 6y agoAin't no one calling Iranians and Israelis asians. https://www.worldometers.info/geography/how-many-countries-in-asia/ https://www.worldometers.info/geography/how-many-countries-i...
- refurb 6y agoIf we want to be truly correct we should include Russians then as well?