*looked Asian.

Thank you.

I was taught that things from the Orient -- rugs, food, furniture, etc. etc. are ORIENTAL.

People are Asian. :)

Exactly.

And I'm weirded out by Suri. Creepy. There's something really strange going on.

My apologies... all the terms were different in my era. I stand corrected.

Although I am a little wierded out by the hair, I must admit that I was born with really dark hair also. I don't think that its uncommon for mexican babies to be born with a lot of really dark hair, but the hair usually does get A LOT lighter.

Also, a Filipino friend of mine was once pointed out as "Oriental" by a Mary Kay consultant at chapter. She whispered to the girl next to her "She thinks I'm Chinese"

So even applied to people... it's not just "Asian" it's a discrete area.

A lot of babies have "Asian-looking" eyes for the first few months, I agree. I was also born with a full head of black hair, and it got lighter before my first birthday.

i completely agree with the weirdness of the hair... i thought (at first glance) that it was dyed!

This Mary Kay consultant needs to get a clue.

I'm half Filipino and I always get mistaken for Chinese. Sorry, my slant eyes are because I'm also part Japanese.

Generally speaking though, it's ASIAN. Not ORIENTAL. :)

It is "just" Asian until people are able to decipher the specific groups.

I can tell Chinese from Japanese from Filipino, for example, however many people can not and they end up offending people and sounding ignorant.

right

I'd have to hang out with a ton of Japanese people for a while to be able to tell that are Japanese. I think it works with caucasions and blacks too, though. Could you really tell which country in Europe my ancestors lived in just by looking at me?

I do, but I think it's a little creepy posting pictures on the internet. Yes I do think she is cuter especially since all of her dark is also corkscrew curly!

Probably.

But your analogy only works if black people and white people retain those things that make them identifiable within their distinct ethnic and cultural groups.

For instance, I can often detect people of the Africa diaspora who have (especially more immediate) African and Carribean roots based on certain facial features. I can also detect people of Irish, Italian, German and Russian descent. However slavery, immigration and assimilation made it such that many people are unaware of their non-North American roots and/or are not easily identifiable as a distinct ethnic or cultural group.

Asians both American and abroad are more likely to retain distinct physical and cultural attributes.