Shannon wrote:

ubernoir wrote:

note Asian in UK English usually means of Indian or Pakistani decent ie the Asian sub continent not the Far East which in UK English is referred to as the Orient (although technically orient just means asia - it's a usage thing)

I thought "orient" referred to the middle east...

Also that its sometimes offensive to some when used in regard to a person as opposed to an object.

in common usage in diferent countries it clearly refers to different things in the US and Britain -- thefreedictionary.com says this but wikipedia says this but I suspect the entry was written by an American so since I know (from the movies and TV so I could be wrong) that to an American to describe a person as Asian suggests their ancestry is from the Far East. George Bernard Shaw said after all we are "two nations divided by a common language". Hence a little comment for clarification.

RE: BBC NEWS | UK | Asian MI5 and MI6 officers speak