In your opinion, is the term "chinaman" extremely offensive?

I’m not Chinese, but to me, it rings about the same level of archaic and offensive as “Negro.” It’s a term from another era. If used for a Chinese-American, it is racist in the sense that it suggests that someone descended from Chinese immigrants is eternally different from “normal” Americans of Scotch/English/etc. descent…

I find it particularly messed up when people use it to refer to all people who look like they might be descended from… anywhere in East Asia. “Oriental” is used along the same lines.

It’s a pejorative term and typically considered offensive, so it is best avoided by anyone who wants to act with the basic decency of treating others respectfully.

To my ear it’s on par with “colored”.

Yes, is offensive, is racist term. I am Japanese, not hear term “Japanman”, not like it if hear it. Some racists probably say I am “Chinaman” too.

Yes, it is extremely offensive.

compared to chink and gook…child’s play.

It is offensive.

I think so, yes. It sounds archaic, or like a man wearing a T-shirt with cut-off sleeves drinking bud light would say it.

Yes, it’s offensive.

Hard to believe it was so commonly used in movies and jokes “back then,” but times and sensibilities change, and political correctness, which I think goes overboard in many areas, is correct to leave this particular pejorative in the dust.

@Blackberry He’s drinking Bud “heavy” because “light beer is for pussies.”

—So, when is “negro” offensive? We have the United NEGRO college fund, and the NAACP with the operative word being “colored people”. I prefer “negro” over its cousin n*****, or the urban n****. I don’t know if the “man” part of Chinaman makes it offensive to many. There is distinctions between races all of the time, often it is just accepted. I hear all of the time, “That Italian guy”, or not the “Black Robert, but the “White Robert”, “You know, Marvin, the Chinese guy”, “Sadie that Puerto Rican chic”, etc.

Yes, it’s offensive.

It’s not the preferred nomenclature.

I would say yes, it’s pretty offensive.

No. It is a habit from another generation.

All generations have bad habits.

Yours does too. So does mine, assuming we are different that way.

Let them have their habits. You can not change them.

Soon enough they will be gone. If you are sensible, you will miss them, and you won’t think about such trivial bullshit.

Yes, it is offensive to me. @josie Pollock and Wop are also habits from another generation, that doesn’t make them any less offensive.

It’s offensive, but your dad might not know it is. Let him know. He may have no ill intent, just be unaware that term is out of date now.

“Chinaman” is a perfectly appropriate term, provided you are referring to a golem made of white clay.

Offensive? Maybe.
Extremely offensive? Nah.

It really depends on context. If they use it like oriental, that just tells me they’re way old school and need a gentle nudge that we don’t use that anymore.

But if they’re using it as a warm-up for chink and/or gook, then yes, it’s offensive.

It is the type of thing my Grandfather would say. He also calls gay people “poofs” and black people “coloured” or “Negro”. I don’t know if he intends to be offensive or if he is just ignorant. He is definitely set in his ways and thoughts, as many people of his generation are and feels that “too many immigrants are taking over the country” He conveniently forgets that his ancestory is not all that British!!! However, when interacting with gay people or people with a different skin colour to him, he acts no differently to when he is with people that look similar to him or live similar lifestyles. He treats people the same and everyone who meets him regardless of skin colour, sexuality, gender etc should have a thick skin as he says pretty much whatever comes into his head!!

I think it would be very difficult to try and convince him to change his language and as he is a good person in every other aspect I can accept that it is most likely a generation thing and I can let it go. I think we should be more focused on educating our younger generations against using derogatory terms, who will then pass it on to their offspring.

@rexacoracofalipitorius That made my day. LMAO.

It’s very outdated, like the term negro. Those words used to be in fashion, but are no longer the preferred terms, so they are offensive. Back in the olden days people used those terms to make sure that everyone knew that white people were the superiors of everyone else.

Your dad may not mean the term to be offensive, but it is. There really aren’t any offensive terms for old white men, so it may be hard for you to use an example that he can relate to. Maybe you can tell him that although he doesn’t mean the term in an offensive way, people consider the term to be offensive in the same way that one might use the word faggot to describe a gay person. The term is definitely a pejorative term. Try to make him understand that he is insulting the person when he uses that term.

In the U.S. the acceptable term would be Asian, or a simply Chinese, depending upon how the term is being used.

Hindus in Malaysia are calling Chinese “chinaman”.