It bugs the hell out of me when someone refers to an Asian person as Oriental. For example, Mickey (who's a real sweatheart despite this flaw he's got that I'm about to explain.), one of our sales guys was talking to a business partner the other day when he kept saying, "Oriental people...blah, blah, blah." The first time around, I heard the biz partner correct him and say, "Asian." But then, he kept using "Oriental" to refer to humans. I wanted to stop his conversation and say, "Excuse me Mickey, but for your information, it is incorrect to use the word, Oriental in reference to a human being. Oriental is used to refer to an object, so in that respect, it is insulting to call an Asian person, Oriental."

I learned this during my first year of college when I took an Asian studies course. The professor made sure that everyone understood that the word "Oriental" was used to degrade Asians years and years ago and only uneducated people or ignorant people still use it in those terms. You can say Oriental rug, but you cannot say Oriental man.

The other thing that really bugs the hell out of me is when I go somewhere and someone who's not of Asian descent asks me, "So, where are you from?" as if I'm a foreigner. It totally pisses me off and I'm starting to wonder if I have a temper problem. For example, I stopped by the deli at Pavilions for lunch the other day and ordered a sandwich. The guy who was helping me asked me where I'm from. So I said, "Here." Then, he asks if I wanted everything on my sandwich. I said, "Everything but onions." Then he asks what I am. I say, "Human." He laughs and says, "No, no where are you from?" So I'm like, "What do you mean? I'm from here....or are you trying to ask what my ethnic background consists of?" Then, he says, "Yes, that's what I meant." And I think to myself...why can't people just ask it correctly? I'm just so sick of people wondering what I am just because I'm Asian. He further offended me when he said, "Do you like garlic?" I said, "Sure." He says, "Japanese or Chinese people eat a lot of garlic so they always smell like garlic." I just stared at him out of horror. Then, he says, "And, Mexican people, they always smell like Chili because they eat alot of Chili." At that moment, I just wanted to run. He had a heavy accent, but I couldn't tell what his background was and I didn't bother to ask.

The other thing that bugs me is when someone asks me, "What nationality are you?" I've pretty much without hesitation say, "American." Like the other day at Trader Joe's....one of the checkers...an older gentleman asks me one of those irriating questions I just addressed up above. Then he says to me in Mandarin, "You are very beautiful." It's a pretty common phrase that even if you don't know the language very well, you will know it's meaning, which I did. So just to give him a thrill and because I was flattered he thought of me as beautiful, I went and said, "Oh, thank you...I mean...shay-shay." It just bugs me when someone who's not Asian tries to speak to me in an Asian language expecting me to understand it. It's just so ignorant! I mean, I don't go up to a Caucasian person and start speaking French or German or Swedish to them. Ya know what? The next time someone asks me what I am, I'm going to give them a REALLY hard time and say something they won't even expect, like French or Russian. Or better yet, stick with my "Human" answer and add on "Human....what are you?" If they ask where I'm from, I'll say, "Here on earth. What about yourself? Let me guess...you look like you might be from ...Mars.....you've got a slight tint of green to your skin tone."

Am I just being overly sensitive and nit-picky here or do I have a point? I just want to be treated as an equal and not looked at as if I'm a foreigner, because afterall, I grew up here in the U.S. I am a U.S. citizen as much as the next person. My culture is American. Just because I look Asian, doesn't mean I can read or write or speak an Asian language.