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Monday, May 25, 2009

Is she Oriental?

tanning

Tanned outside til I was too hot and uncomf.

Decided to go "jogging" but gave up after about 3/4 of a mile and started walking.I'm kinda out of shape. Haha.

I went about 3 miles and took my dog to the dog park where we met his doppelganger Casey. Casey's owner is a lovely old lady with some kind of accent that makes me think she's rich.

Later I saw her at the grocery store where I went to pick up my birth control and ground beef, brats, portabello mushrooms, bell peppers, and acorn squash which I grilled on the barbecue. Or barbecued on the grill? Oh, and I didn't grill the BC.

Ate with parents.

Then somehow the topic of conversation drifted to several of my ex boyfriends. My mom asked if Zoltan's (my ex that left me for Japan) new girlfriend was "oriental."

I said "What was that?" mock not hearing her. Just offering her a chance to save herself.

"Is she Oriental too?"

"Uhh ... Oriental?"

"Yeah, is his girlfriend Oriental?"

I sighed. "'Asian' is more appropriate, Mom."

"What's wrong with Oriental? I've always said that."

"Yeah, well there's nothing inherently wrong with the word Oriental, but it's just not PC. Just say Asian. I don't call you Occidental."

"Does Occidental mean Caucasian? People should realize my generation grew up saying Oriental."

"No. Occidental doesn't mean white. So Oriental shouldn't mean Asian. Occidental and Oriental are east/west terms. And your generation is not old enough to pull that card. Grandma can say oriental and I won't correct her, but you should know better."

"Well, fine. Is she Asian?"

"I think she's Pacific Islander."

"What's that?"

"She is of Pacific Island descent."

Sigh.
Now back to sewing.

13 comments:

Michael said...

It doesn't surprise me... in a loving way.

So are you Chinese or Japanese

Polygnome said...

"From Laos stupid! It's a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It's between Vietnam and Thailand, ok? Population: 4.7 million."

"... So are you Chinese or Japanese?"

haha so good.

Melissa said...

I go for "runs" and end up walking...I so prefer to swim three miles than run three miles.

I liked this post,conversations about being politically correct are alwasy interesting...=)

ScoMan said...

Quite often dad says things he really shouldn't. I don't correct him though, I just think "I hope he doesn't talk like this outside the house"

Stephanie said...

I like how youre bundled up in one post and tanning in another...what's up with the weather?

Anonymous said...

i tell people, "RUGS are oriental. PEOPLE are asian."

i know exactly what you're talkin about. my parents say 'oriental' too. they also call black people 'those people'. you'd think they'd learn, considering they have one daughter who's asian and one who's black. (and fyi everyone else - my sister and i are adopted).

Polygnome said...

artislove - it makes me espesh irritated for the same reason, because they have an asian daughter, you'd think they might be more sensitive, but nope. hahaha. i didn't know your sister was black! that's cool. do you or your sis ever correct them? or you know, try to guide them towards more pc-ness?

Anonymous said...

my sis is actually half black/half korean. we don't correct my parents anymore. too much trouble now. plus, my parents are slightly racist, so being pc isn't exactly their first priority. they also believe you can catch AIDS from gay people. i think that pretty much sums up my parents

Polygnome said...

artislove - aaaah that sucks. are your parents super christian? my parents think all gay people die of anal cancer.

Anonymous said...

yeah, my parents are ultra conservative christians. they think i'm a devil child. we've had some really epic arguments about how i'm going to hell. sounds like we're kind of in the same boat?

Emy Augustus said...

haha very interesting and amusing!

and artislove - wow considering you say they are slightly racist, ironic that they adopted u and ur sis.

ah well, my parents are both chinese and my mom is quite biased towards a certain type of black person, the ghetto gansta type. The other day, she made a arm gesture that reminded me of the way rappers move and I sarcastically said that she was acting like a black person and her reaction was quite funny.

Anonymous said...

lol... that was amusing

I've never heard ppl used the term Oriental before to describe an Asian. My 1st. True story

Anonymous said...

I just read a million posts of yours and the greatest ones for me are these silly conversations you have via real life, texting, or IMing. so funny and quirky. thanks for the smile!

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