Mai's Thai today.....funny

In Jeffersonville. They have a note on the front saying "Help Wanted" and another sign beside it saying that the service may be slow due to lack of staff. LOL! Well, I got 2 pad thai carryout and asked for cilantro. The girl taking my order had no idea what cilantro was! The other lady (neither one was oriental) said yes, they use it in their soup but would have to charge me extra. No big deal....but they literally put a carpet of green on it! Luckily my friend wanted some so I had plenty to spare. I will say it was very, very good!

I love Mai's! Gotta get back there soon.

I love this place. I end up going there a lot since it's right by my house. However it's lead to a neglect of Sala Thai on my part.

LINDA C said (neither one was oriental)????

LINDA C said (neither one was oriental)????

Yeah asians typically don't like to be called that anymore.

[Robin Garr]

Yeah asians typically don't like to be called that anymore.

I think that's more the paternalistic kind of PC where somebody over here decided that the Asians wouldn't like it, so changed the rules without asking whether anybody actually cared. ("Native American" is sort of like that, too. All the Indians I know just laugh at it.)

While I've never broached the subject with asian friends, I can at least say none of them refer to their ethnicity as oriental. They call themselves asian.

[Robin Garr]

While I've never broached the subject with asian friends, I can at least say none of them refer to their ethnicity as oriental. They call themselves asian.

Granted, but I'd be surprised if they consider "Oriental" as offensive or a slur.

I slipped a few years ago and said oriental when I meant asian and was quickly corrected by two Korean friends. They were incredulous that I would ever use the offensive word. The "o" word has never crossed my lips again.

My best friend is a Korean-American who immigrated when she was six years old. She grew up in Flushing, Queens.

When she was visiting saw the "Oriental House" restaurant on Shelbyville and just about flipped out - something about why she hated visiting the South. It didn't help much when I pointed out that there are lots of places in New York that still have the word in their names or that the restaurant is owned by Asians.

Asians are people with individual preferences just like anyone else, and some are going to hate the label "Oriental," and some are not going to care. To avoid offending those who do care, I would never use the term.

LOL @ the comment about "the south".

[Robin Garr]

To avoid offending those who do care, I would never use the term.

Good advice, Eliza. Thanks to you and Gary for helping sort that out.

I think that's more the paternalistic kind of PC where somebody over here decided that the Asians wouldn't like it, so changed the rules without asking whether anybody actually cared. ("Native American" is sort of like that, too. All the Indians I know just laugh at it.)

If you need this one backed up, just go ask the American Indian Movement.

[Robin Garr]

If you need this one backed up, just go ask the American Indian Movement.

In another life, I spent some time visiting and working with some guys who were pretty active in that movement out in the Dakotas, Arizona and New Mexico. They always said they liked to be called by their tribe first, if people knew it, then "Indian" was fine. "Native American"? I've never forgotten what one old guy at Standing Rock near Bismarck said: "That's just guilty white men's talk."

PC is funny. It seems to come in two flavors, the kind that the people affected want, which I think should be accepted with respect; and the kind that someone outside the affected group decides is correct and imposes without it occurring to them that they should really get a reality check. "Native" definitely falls in the latter category. I guessed that "Oriental" was similar, but based on this discussion, I've re-calibrated that.

Does this mean I have to stop calling people from Europe "occidentals"?