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British strict classification of Races in this world. |
Few years ago I used to drive taxis part-time on Sundays in Sydney to supplement my meager day-trading income. One Sunday I picked up a group of young Brits near the Opera House and they wanted to go to Chinatown. So we went. On the way the young woman at the front seat said,
“Not many Asians in Australia?”
I was shocked as I thought our Sydney was full of Asians and by then we were already in Chinatown crowded with Asians. So I pointed her at the young fashionable Chinese crowd congregating on the George Street cinema strip and asked,
“Don’t you see them? We have so many Asians here and we are now in the middle of Chinatown!”
“They aren’t Asians!” She looked at them young Chinese crowd on the street and told me. I was stunned.
“So what are they, if they aren’t Asians?”
“Orientals, back home we call them Orientals!”
“Wow! So who are Asians back home in England?”
“There, there, he is Asian!” She was pointing excitedly at a turban-head Panjabi on the street.
“You mean you Brits call Indians, Asians?”
“Yeah, sometimes we call them ‘Pakis’, but it’s a derogatory term!”
“So how about me? What do you call people like me?”
“You look Thai and we call you people Thai!”