I think "Asian" evolved to replace "Oriental" since that is no longer an accepted word to use.
While I understand why we're trying to get away from such labels as they have historically been used in a derogatory way, it is useful when describing a person. If my white friend told me to look for his friend John in a crowd, and he described him without mentioning he's "Asian", I'd probably expect another white guy, since we're both white. It's the difference between looking for John Mulaney and John Cho.
While I hate to divide and label people based on how they look, it is a useful way to describe what someone looks like without having to teach the term "epicanthic folds" to everyone.
Wouldn't you agree that describing John Cho as an average height guy in his early 40s with Asian characteristics is no different than describing John Boyega as a black guy of average height in his early 30s?
That's more of a US thing. The orient express for example ran all the way up to 2009. It's an old and unused word, but not really seen as offensive. Some places in Asia even still use that term today.
I never even heard it used in a derogatory way. It seems like one day SJW decided it was racist, campaigned against it, and that was that. But they seem to think adjectives in general are offensive, so it's not surprising.
Just to be "that guy", oriental isn't a bad word in British English. It's used very commonly in the names of Cantonese restaurants for example. It's less commonly used to describe people, but if you did need to specify that the person was east-asian, it wouldn't raise any eyebrows.
If not for the mannerism, expression , and fashion I can't even place an educated guess with confidence on East Asians as an East Asian. Let alone ethnicities even more different that I didn't inherited the depths on. Of course it will be problematic if that person informed their ethnicity and their boundaries yet that information is disregarded and disrespected by the receiver. Ignorant but with a will to learn is always good in my book.
P.S. For a general term you are looking for, I vote East Asian in place outdated "oriental".
P.P.S. I am not a representative of anyone and my bad take is my own.
Not just because of plate tectonics, but because a population lived there in isolation for thousands of years, long enough to become distinct enough genetically to be their own racial group.
But then another wave of migration happened and modern Indians killed pretty much all of them. The ones who survived are the "bottom caste" in the caste system those new immigrants implemented.
There's a lot of Indian propaganda to make it seem like that native population just never existed. And modern Indians have always inhabited India, yet somehow still aren't ethnically Indian either.
If it's confusing, that's kind of the point. Lots of far right authoritarian governments don't care about logical consistency, they just say whatever makes them look best in any situation
The way we understand current geography came from imperialistic Europe. Pretty much the scientific aspects of it were never updated. Unless the current system is revolutionized, we will have to make do with this mess respectfully.
Not saying it's the way it should be, but since North and South America are different continents, I typically hear "North American" used for Canadian, Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Costa Rican, etc; "South American" for Brazilian, Columbian, Chilean, etc. There is no adjective for a citizen of the USA other than "American" that I can think of (no USA'an), so "American" is used as citizen of the US.
In technical stuff, "American" can mean "North American", like the NEMA 5-15 plug is known as the "American electrical plug" which uses 110V-125 V at 60 Hz. This is a standard for all of North America (except Belize, which uses it only in part of the country).
The United States is a construct of the states themselves. Technically, 2/3 of the states could vote to dissolve the federal government and I'd suddenly become a Tennessean only. It's not feasible, since every state gave up their right to have their own currency and have their own diplomats to join the US, but it's something to note. The US could cease to exist by a simple vote, no overthrow of government required.
At my old company I had a few coworkers in Cyprus and they were some great people. One of my US coworkers ended up moving there. I did a video call with him and saw the view he had and holy shit that was the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen.
I'm mostly kidding; I'm an American mutt myself. My father's family is from Cyprus, though, and I would love to see the place with my own eyes at least once in my life.
Americans aren't just people from the United States. Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela are also American as they all reside in North or South America.
Fun fact: Tom Lehrer released all of his songs into the public domain (https://tomlehrersongs.com), so you can remix "The Elements" without any permission or royalties. (albeit maybe less significant for that particular song since the melody is from Gilbert & Sullivan anyway)