The term "Asian" is almost never used in the geographical rather than socio-cultural sense, though.
Cypriots are certainly European, culturally, and a good number of these nationalities are considered "Middle Eastern" rather than "West Asian".
Wow, I had no idea that Cyprus was in Asia. Totally agree they are culturally European.
What point are you trying to make exactly?
It’s a “shower thought.” It doesn’t need to have a point.
A "shower thought" alludes to some 'realization' you've had while zoning out in the shower. This... isn't that and is more just basic geography.
Basic geography to you.
About a year ago I realized that Russia is both in Europe and Asia…. that was a realization about geography.
Was it basic? Probably. Probably shows OP’s and my limits regarding geography knowledge.
TLDR: dumb dumbs have realizations which can be basic knowledge to the average person.
See, your realization would actually be a good shower thought.
OP's post seems more like a response or reaction to something else (which we don't have context for). Who thinks that North/South Korea, China, and Japan are the only countries in Asia? Like, specifically in the US, I think we're all familiar with Vietnam (and the Vietnam war) along with Laos and Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, etc.
I don't mean to demean anyone not familiar with geography, but even if you don't know the names of the countries, you'd have to know more countries exist there, which is why I think this is a weird post. It'd be like posting "The United States consists of multiple states"
I think "Asian" evolved to replace "Oriental" since that is no longer an accepted word to use.
While I understand why we're trying to get away from such labels as they have historically been used in a derogatory way, it is useful when describing a person. If my white friend told me to look for his friend John in a crowd, and he described him without mentioning he's "Asian", I'd probably expect another white guy, since we're both white. It's the difference between looking for John Mulaney and John Cho.
While I hate to divide and label people based on how they look, it is a useful way to describe what someone looks like without having to teach the term "epicanthic folds" to everyone.
Wouldn't you agree that describing John Cho as an average height guy in his early 40s with Asian characteristics is no different than describing John Boyega as a black guy of average height in his early 30s?
Give me a better term to use and I'll use it.
since that is no longer an accepted word to use.
That's more of a US thing. The orient express for example ran all the way up to 2009. It's an old and unused word, but not really seen as offensive. Some places in Asia even still use that term today.
I never even heard it used in a derogatory way. It seems like one day SJW decided it was racist, campaigned against it, and that was that. But they seem to think adjectives in general are offensive, so it's not surprising.
Just to be "that guy", oriental isn't a bad word in British English. It's used very commonly in the names of Cantonese restaurants for example. It's less commonly used to describe people, but if you did need to specify that the person was east-asian, it wouldn't raise any eyebrows.
You are right.
If not for the mannerism, expression , and fashion I can't even place an educated guess with confidence on East Asians as an East Asian. Let alone ethnicities even more different that I didn't inherited the depths on. Of course it will be problematic if that person informed their ethnicity and their boundaries yet that information is disregarded and disrespected by the receiver. Ignorant but with a will to learn is always good in my book.
P.S. For a general term you are looking for, I vote East Asian in place outdated "oriental".
P.P.S. I am not a representative of anyone and my bad take is my own.
Uhm, common knowledge? I couldn't recite every country of course.
Context is king.
A bunch of that is "middle eastern".
Asia is a huge continent with many distinct ethnic groups, gotta split em up to be more precise when describing someone
Sorry I forgot the middle east is in california👍🏻
Wat
Actually it's just what the society accepts. You can't change it. Similarly, you can't change the fact that a Mexican can't be called an American.
You're wrong on both counts. Asian denotes a person from asia. American can denote someone from ANY of the Americas or someone from the US.
Not saying it's the way it should be, but since North and South America are different continents, I typically hear "North American" used for Canadian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Costa Rican, etc; "South American" for Brazilian, Columbian, Chilean, etc. There is no adjective for a citizen of the USA other than "American" that I can think of (no USA'an), so "American" is used as citizen of the US.
In technical stuff, "American" can mean "North American", like the NEMA 5-15 plug is known as the "American electrical plug" which uses 110V-125 V at 60 Hz. This is a standard for all of North America (except Belize, which uses it only in part of the country).
The United States is a construct of the states themselves. Technically, 2/3 of the states could vote to dissolve the federal government and I'd suddenly become a Tennessean only. It's not feasible, since every state gave up their right to have their own currency and have their own diplomats to join the US, but it's something to note. The US could cease to exist by a simple vote, no overthrow of government required.
Mexican-American. Checkmate
I wouldn't say someone from India is Asian... their tectonic plate came out of nowhere and crashed into the Eurasian plate!
There was an Indian ethnicity...
Not just because of plate tectonics, but because a population lived there in isolation for thousands of years, long enough to become distinct enough genetically to be their own racial group.
But then another wave of migration happened and modern Indians killed pretty much all of them. The ones who survived are the "bottom caste" in the caste system those new immigrants implemented.
There's a lot of Indian propaganda to make it seem like that native population just never existed. And modern Indians have always inhabited India, yet somehow still aren't ethnically Indian either.
If it's confusing, that's kind of the point. Lots of far right authoritarian governments don't care about logical consistency, they just say whatever makes them look best in any situation
Are you talking about the Aryan Invasion theory?
No that's a far right modern day myth that Aryans "originated" in India and then moved north. It's based on hitler's bullshit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46616574
I'm talking about the reality of dark skinned people who lived there for thousands of years. And then were invaded and turned into a slave caste
The way we understand current geography came from imperialistic Europe. Pretty much the scientific aspects of it were never updated. Unless the current system is revolutionized, we will have to make do with this mess respectfully.
Palestinians as well!
I added them and removed Israelis :)
I don't know why but I find this hilarious
As we all should.
Wow, someone else has actually heard of Cypriots.
I'm sure we'll go back to being forgotten about in like five minutes, but I'm gonna enjoy this moment while it lasts.
At my old company I had a few coworkers in Cyprus and they were some great people. One of my US coworkers ended up moving there. I did a video call with him and saw the view he had and holy shit that was the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen.
I'm mostly kidding; I'm an American mutt myself. My father's family is from Cyprus, though, and I would love to see the place with my own eyes at least once in my life.
Americans aren't just people from the United States. Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela are also American as they all reside in North or South America.
Yeah.
A few of those countries on the east of the Black Sea might disagree with you.
Not gonna lie, when I saw that list of places, I fell onto a "song of elements" kind of melody and tempo.
Eurasia is a single continent, the distinction between the two is cultural.
Eurasia is a single continent,
the distinction between the two is cultural.
Fully agreed there.
If the Bering Land Bridge still existed, would you also consider Asia and North America as the same continent?
The definition of continent is made to be useful in daily life to distinguish people's from global habitats.
Wasn't it mostly ice?
I wouldn't, the same way I wouldn't lump the two Americas together.
Europe is a bit more hazy. What to do of Russia or Turkey?
What about Taiwanese, Russians, Tibetians?
Russians are Eurasian. The country straddles both continents.
Plus most of them are in Europe
I like to add Hmong, Karen and Mien to the list.
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.