Sez I, on Twitter today:
Quick! Give me a list of things you associate with the term "Oriental"!
or terms, or adjectives, or descriptions.
Lovely_Lici: Noodles, dry cleaning (a place in Bahamas), slippers (the cheap ones with sequins), rice
joverm: rugs, porcelain, silk, demure womrn, stern mrn
SteamScholar: I Ching, Feng Shui, Acupuncture, the Korean guy from my theology class 16 years ago, Buddhism, Shinto, Haiku, Brass Temple Bell
SteamScholar: Bruce Lee, Tai Chi, Shogun, Samurai, Ha Jin, Tienanmen Square, Everest, Sherpa, Tibet.
SteamScholar: Anime, Manga, Akira, Godzilla, Big Trouble in Little China, "Raiden wins!", my best friend in grade 2, Kitaro.
snoboe: "...Station." A now defunct restaurant in the town I grew up in.
THEN, SEZ I, Let me rephrase: Give me a list of ADJECTIVES you associate with the term "Oriental"! Because things will go on forever.
heathercorinna: (free-association, bias likely intact) Old, structured, conflicted, soft-spoken, family-oriented, rigid, stubborn, artful, strict.
Note: I really appreciated Heather Corinna's response, because it was the one that was quickest and possibly most honest with bias.SteamScholar: that's a real mix - it's a blend of wise, smart, quiet, refined, and the noisy lady from the busy today.
Koifla: rugs, cooking, massage
writersyndrome: Noodles. Rugs. Fetishes. (:P) Orientalism (art movement & post-colonial theory) & that line from "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist"
I may collect more tomorrow.
In the meantime, enjoy
this quick rumination which spawned the question.