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THAT insult for asians, where did it come from?

Mondy

Mondy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,456
I'm of course talking about "Yellow", or "yella". NOTE I DID NOT CREATE THIS THREAD TO DEFEND OR APPRECIATE THE TERM. I am honestly curious about where it came from, because watching plenty of Japanese and Korean media in my time, I really don't see it.

Yeah sure that is 2 out of like, 9 different ethnicities in the greater Asian area, but I can't even see where "Yellow" comes into it from Chinese, Thais, Filipinos or Singaporeans. It isn't their skin tone, which seems to range from Caucasian to slightly tanned. It isn't their eyes, which tend to be Brown/Black, or their hair, which is NOT typically blonde, so ????
 
Chaos2Frozen

Chaos2Frozen

Member
Nov 3, 2017
18,282
I had always assume it's our skin tone- not dark enough to be black or brown so people settled for 'yellow'.
 
BocoDragon

BocoDragon

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
5,207
I used to think that it was arbitrary, but my gf, who is a pretty light skinned Korean that reads as “white” as they do with makeup and such.... she said “no, we are pretty yellow”, and did a skin comparison to my Caucasian pink. Asian skin is kinda yellow by comparison. They really de-emphasize it with makeup and such but seeing is believing.
 
marimo

marimo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
587
A lot of Asians have kind of a yellowish undertone I guess. Most caucasians have more of a red undertone unless they have olive skin.
 
Rad

Rad

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,007
Ages ago Europeans had already "reserved" being white and while still white-ish, many Asian regions had a noticeably different skin tone. Skin color classification was a thing and I guess yellow was the closest to their skin color (other than white).
 
Ratrat

Ratrat

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,867
I don't think its an 'insult' by default. Asian skin can be read as light yelllow/orange/brown. It's not literal.
 
SephiZack

SephiZack

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
692
I have noticed that sometimes it's more noticeable if you directly compare skin colour.

I don't know if it's because I was born and grew up in Europe but I'm ethnic Chinese and my skin colour looks pink even when compared to Caucasians.

My Taiwanese girlfriend looks pink-skinned, but if you compare our skin colours closely you can notice that her skin looks yellow.
 
Hypron

Hypron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,913
NZ
BocoDragon said:
I used to think that it was arbitrary, but my gf, who is a pretty light skinned Korean that reads as “white” as they do with makeup and such.... she said “no, we are pretty yellow”, and did a skin comparison to my Caucasian pink. Asian skin is kinda yellow by comparison. They really de-emphasize it with makeup and such but seeing is believing.
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But I mean not all caucasians have the same skin colour. While the skin might be "white", the undertone can change quite drastically. Some people have yellow-ish undertones, others are more pink-ish or blue-ish, etc.

And the same thing is true both ways, there's a lot of variability in skin tones even within individual Asian countries.
 
HadesHotgun

HadesHotgun

Member
Oct 25, 2017
803
It's worth noting that despite the fact that colors themselves have always looked as they do, the way they're perceived has changed over time and still varies within cultures.
 
Kino

Kino

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,358
From the title, I was honestly expecting this to be a penis thread....

On topic, we just have a slight yellow tone. I don't think it's offensive to say we're yellow.
 
haxan

haxan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,017
I wondered about this too. I wondered if it had to do with the “Yellow River” being labeled as one of the cradles of civilization. Don’t shoot the messenger. This is just what I put together from my public school history classes.
 
TickleMeElbow

TickleMeElbow

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,590
I'm half Asian.

When I had mild jaundice (when you turn yellow due to excess bilirubin in the blood), the doctor said he had to look at the corners of my eyes because it's hard to tell will my skin tone lol.
 
sanstesy

sanstesy

Member
Nov 16, 2017
2,232
White people aren't literally white and black people aren't literally black.

Terms for skin colour are just all hyperbole so people can generalize each other which is one of humanities favoured past-times.
 

Faria

Member
Jan 26, 2018
360
Dismayingly, I know a few in HK (I'm white here) that refer to themselves as yellow. I don't think it's perceived as an insult, though.
 

Deleted member 17952

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,980
I rarely see white caucasians, but when I do, they're unbelievably pale compared to how fair-skinned Korean or Japanese look. Asians seem to have a brown undertone, while caucasians seems to have a red undertone.
 
KillLaCam

KillLaCam

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,887
Singapore and Seoul
I had no idea that yellow was supposed to be an insult. I thought it was skin tone. My gf has a yellowish skin tone and she's Chinese. I'm light skinned too and always got called yellow too. My friends in SG are always referring to themselves as yellow too. It's definitely not usually used as an insult in modern times.

I think it's just easier to say yellow instead of really light brown, slightly tanned or something. Especially since calling people yellow came from around the 1800s . They didn't put that much thought into describing people.
 
tintskuecha

tintskuecha

Member
Oct 25, 2017
641
I mean, some, asians have a yellowish skin tone. How it got to be a racist term and white or black didn't, is something I find more interesting
 
Medalion

Medalion

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,203
Asians are fairly pale... sometimes paler than some white people... but are not "white" by classical racial terminology, and they are not black... so what color fits in between.... and has a derogatory sound... yellow... also meaning cowardly.
 
Giolon

Giolon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,091

It seems to date back to the 19th century, rising alongside the idea of the "Mongoloid" race of people living in Asia (as compared to Caucasoid in Europe, and Negroid in Africa) with darker skin than Caucasians, but not as dark as African. The color descriptor seems to have evolved over a relatively short period of time from white to brown to yellow. According to Wikipedia, although such terms (Mongoloid, Caucasoid, Negroid) are still used in anthropology disciplines, they have fallen out of favor in other areas both for being overbroad and vague and due to their connection to scientific racism.​
 
AbbaZabba

AbbaZabba

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
628
BocoDragon said:
Yeah I tend to think whites are really pinks. Or at least, I am lol.
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Lol damnit, you have a point.

But yeah OP it’s the skin tone.

Reading the title, I was actually expecting a different epithet for Asians. Going to something search that now.

Edit:

It was “chink.” And after searching, interestingly enough, the origin isn’t entirely clear. Apparently there are a few things it could have originally come from. The more you know.
 
Ganransu

Ganransu

Member
Nov 21, 2017
1,270
Some of us do have a slight yellow tint to our skin. Even as the paler one, if I put my arm next to a white person's, mine would look slightly yellower, while the other would have a pinkish tint to it.

The yellow is more noticeable if I've been in the sun for a day or two.
 
Rice Eater

Rice Eater

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,832
Alwayscrazybacon said:
Same, I live in mainland China and in race discussion not nationality they will say they are yellow.
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If I were to guess I think most Asian Americans will also refer to ourselves as yellow, jokingly and seriously. But only around each other. With the way race relations is in this country we'd prefer that others not call us that since we've adopted "Asian" as our preferential term for East and Southeast Asians.

I don't mean to speak for all, but that's always been my point of view.
 

D65

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,862
I always thought it was because British colonists called Burmese people yellow because of their face paint?

Until I realised that their skin is actually a shade of yellow when compared.
 
TheCthultist

TheCthultist

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,809
New York
AbbaZabba said:
Reading the title, I was actually expecting a different epithet for Asians. Going to something search that now.

Edit:

It was “chink.” And after searching, interestingly enough, the origin isn’t entirely clear. Apparently there are a few things it could have originally come from. The more you know.
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Yeah, that’s where I thought this was going as I had never actually heard an explanation for that one. Yellow always seemed pretty straight forward as being about skin tone.
 
Xiaomi

Xiaomi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,987
A lot of my Taiwanese friends will joke around about being yellow, ask me whether I think their eyes are small, call me "adowah" which means something like "woodpecker," a term for white foreigners because of our big noses. So it's not just part of the Western psyche; it's become internalized in Asia as well.
 
Tovarishch Nix

Tovarishch Nix

The Fallen
Jan 25, 2018
7,319
I guess because the skintone is different but not dark enough to be called brown/black?

Personally I never got where the insult "chink" came from.
 
Riversands

Riversands

Banned
Nov 21, 2017
5,669
I dont think "yellow"is offensive. In fact, im kinda annoyed when people say we have white skin. I always say, "No. We have yellow skin, not white. It's different"
 
Lwyn

Lwyn

Banned for use of an alt-account
Banned
Jul 2, 2018
168
Riversands said:
I dont think "yellow"is offensive. In fact, im kinda annoyed when people say we have white skin. I always say, "No. We have yellow skin, not white. It's different"
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You're not going to win. Due to social logic, people make up their own head-cannon when it comes to certain things.
 
AbbaZabba

AbbaZabba

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
628
Chaos2Frozen said:
I assume some asshole was too lazy to say “Chinese” and just cut it short
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I googled it (see my earlier post) and it’s actually ambiguous. Been around since the 1800’s. Either something about the Qing dynasty being mispronounced, a play on the greeting “ching-ching,” something about a middle-eastern pronunciation, or even “chink” as in small slit as in squinty eyes. Wikipedia / google it, kind of interesting that the origin isn’t clear.
 
Westbahnhof

Westbahnhof

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
9,449
Austria
Mondy said:
It isn't their skin tone
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What? Like people have said before, white people are not white, and black people are not black.
One could argue that the people racistly called "yellow" are less yellow than "black" people are black or "white" people are white, but... idk.
It always seemed pretty clear to me why the term was used.

I think it's also worth mentioning that "yellow" may be used synonymously with "Asian" sometimes, but it really isn't. My friend, whose parents are from the Philippines, is obviously of Asian descent, and neither he nor his parents would be called yellow. It 100% is about skin tone.

Hyun Sai said:
Skin tone, like white people are in fact pink and black people brown.
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I think you're right with the explanation, but calling white people pink... still feels off.
I'm probably more yellow than pink, most of the time. (EDIT: Even though here, lighting is a big part of it)
 
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