~ Occidental & Oriental ~

[timberx]

Oriental is pretty common... Never ever, heard the word Occidental though

First time I've seen the word was in "Occidental College." Though I'm pretty sure I read it as Accidental first, and had a chuckle.

[Independent voter]

A lot of business are named occidental, like Occidental Life Insurance. It might sound too much like "accidental" for marketers though.

[Deleted]

Especially coming from someone who speaks modern English that is very rich, considering how many words you guys have "borrowed" from it .

It's still a dead language with zero use beyond hobbies. Yes English utilizes Latin but it's still English

[Puupi]

It's still a dead language with zero use beyond hobbies. Yes English utilizes Latin but it's still English

I don't think being a doctor qualifies as a hobby.

[Gothicshark]

I was simply wondering why we don't really use these terms anymore. If you don't know, oriental is a word to describe the "east" and occidental describes the "west" if you want to oversimplify it. It primary was used to describe the inhabitants of either side; Orientals (Arabs, Southeast Asians, Indians, East Asians, etc) and Occidentals (Europeans, North Americans, South Americans, Australians, etc).

I use these words often, but then I'm a freaky Gothic type so I doubt it counts.

[nextormento]

It's still a dead language with zero use beyond hobbies. Yes English utilizes Latin but it's still English

This echoes of the pitiful people who are proud of hating mathematics.
I don't think Latin should be mandatory either. It was for me, and it felt bizarre to have it as simply an exercise on memorization. But studying it in a broader context gives you insight into your own language (particularly so for romance languages).

[Deleted]

I don't think being a doctor qualifies as a hobby.

Usually people who become doctors go to medical school where they learn latin for medical

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This echoes of the pitiful people who are proud of hating mathematics.
I don't think Latin should be mandatory either. It was for me, and it felt bizarre to have it as simply an exercise on memorization. But studying it in a broader context gives you insight into your own language (particularly so for romance languages).

I'm not saying Latin shouldn't be taught, just that it shouldn't be mandatory unless entering higher learning via university

[Ripster42]

Usually people who become doctors go to medical school where they learn latin for medical

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I'm not saying Latin shouldn't be taught, just that it shouldn't be mandatory unless entering higher learning via university

Meh, latin isn't really taught in med school. They learn vocabulary that's latin, and knowing what those latin words mean helps studying, but it's not like they learn anything but vocabulary.

[Deleted]

I was simply wondering why we don't really use these terms anymore. If you don't know, oriental is a word to describe the "east" and occidental describes the "west" if you want to oversimplify it. It primary was used to describe the inhabitants of either side; Orientals (Arabs, Southeast Asians, Indians, East Asians, etc) and Occidentals (Europeans, North Americans, South Americans, Australians, etc).

Like a vast number of english words, both occidental and oriental stem from old french (which comes from latin, hence the misconception that these words came directly from latin) and were used in late middle english. As a matter of fact occident/occidental is still commonly used in modern french, but for some reason it's considered antiquated in other languages.

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Especially coming from someone who speaks modern English that is very rich, considering how many words you guys have "borrowed" from it .

English didn't borrow much from latin outside of scientific terms. It borrowed a lot from old french which was basically bastardized latin though.

[derpkitteh]

Because learning a dead language is fun

keep latin alive is more fun.

it's like, one of the coolest languages, with some of the best names, to ever exist.

and i thought it was considered racist to call asians orientals?

[Enan1981]

Ive only known of this terms because theres a region in the Philippines named Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.

[Deleted]

keep latin alive is more fun.

it's like, one of the coolest languages, with some of the best names, to ever exist.

and i thought it was considered racist to call asians orientals?

That's more America

In UK asian = middle east, oriental = chinese though usually we just say chinese. I wouldn't consider it racist

[Elegiac]

Most people will simply use 'east' and 'west'; occident and orient tend to be restricted to contextual discussion about history.

[Dwarfhamster]

In the US, people mostly use "Asian" for Southeast Asians and Far East Asians. For Indians, etc, it's South Asians. In the UK, Asians refer more to Indians and Orientals is still commonly used for East/Southeast Asians. "Orientals" in the US has fallen out of favor.

[Deleted]

I´ve heard both, though it seems here that "occidental" is more rare, to me is not an unused word. "Ociddental" has been used more like an expression to describe the European-American way of life.