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Originally Posted by shayde78
*I use the title of the work, acknowledging that the use of the word 'Oriental' to describe a person is offensive.
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The Latin
oriens / orientis, "east", as opposed to
occidens / occidentis "west", derive from the verbs
orire and
occidere, "to rise" and "to set" respectively, in reference to the movement of the sun. One would think that cardinal directions and astronomical phenomena are pretty neutral concepts.
People will always attach baggage to words and labels. In the US, the term "Southerner" inspires certain knee-jerk connotations with a lot of people who are not from south of the Mason-Dixon line.