Continentally Speaking

I'm not so sure I know how to talk about people who live on the Asian landmass or who had ancestors from there. It turns out that "Oriental" is offensive, or at least mildly so. "Asian" doesn't tell you much. You could be from Yemen or Siberia and still be Asian, although it appears to encompass Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, other Southeast Asians to the exclusion of others. People from India and Pakistan are "South Asians". I don't know whether Burmese are South Asians or just plain Asians. Fortunately, I don't have to talk about Burmese people very often.

Pretty soon, if our experience with Oriental is any guide, Asian will be offensive, if it isn't already. Too bad. It's really handy for talking about people whose precise origins elude you. I can't always tell if someone is Korean or Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese, Laotian or Thai. Excuse me for not having made a study of the distinguishing characteristics of various Asian nationalities.

You'd think "Eurasian" would describe anyone from the Eurasian landmass, but it doesn't. You have to be a combination of Asian and European.

So far, "African" remains a perfectly cromulent expression for someone from sub-Saharan Africa, unless you are of European origin, in which case you don't get to be African. In college, the Organization of African and African American Students denied membership to a white third generation Zimbabwean because she was not African enough. I reckon that Pan-Africanism has kept Africans from being offended about being lumped together on a continental basis. I've never encountered an African who was annoyed that I didn't recognize his tribal affilation or nationality.

I'm a "North American" because I come from the US or Canada. Mexicans and people from the Central American isthmus don't get to be North Americans even though they live in North America. Because I'm from the US, I can call myself an American. Canadians are not Americans. Neither are Brazilians. The denizens of the US have coopted the entire hemisphere.