Uuum ok i have a friend of mine who is Asian annd...um how to start.Well you know some ppl call other white for example the black ppl and white ones call them black.And i don't see something bad in this to say it.So may question is is it racist to call asians yellow and will it this gonna hurt my friend in some way?

Yes. You shouldn't call Asians yellow, you should call yellow people yellow. Not too many yellow Asians here in Bangkok.

On second thought, how about just calling him by his name? Let's not call anyone anything but their name.

Political correctness is a joke and you should call it how you see it.
If you directly call someone it and they take offense, change your wording and say sorry for it.

Only think that bothers me is White man slags Black man and its a crime, Black man slags White man and there is no punishment, wtf is that!?

Yes, it is. :/

You callin' me yeller' boy?

I don't call my white friends "White" and my black friends "Black", I call them by their names. It would racist not to do the same for your yellow friends.

Pfahahahaha, oh wow

Try it. If he does get http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cycXuYzmzNg, you have one less "friend" to worry about.

Only if you're the Green Lantern.

Why would you actually call on yellow anyway, I tried invisioning a scenario where you'd do that and I can't make it seem real.
Unless 'e be arr P1R4T3!!!! 'ello berded bucket !!

It's only ok to refer to skin colour unless you're white, in which case, racist!

Kidding, but it really depends on what it is you're using yellow in the context with.

Example:

"Hello, yellow person" to random person implies you're only referring to them by their skin tone. I don't see who would take this as a nice gesture. Nonetheless, there's quite a number of cultures on planet Earth that refer to people by skin tone.

An example my (asian) wife and I use:

"Our baby is white and yellow"

Because our baby is half asian and half caucasian. However, it's established that neither of us take offence to this and we both know each other's intentions. Whenever saying anything about skin colour it's wise for people to know your intent before hand to prevent any issues. A colour itself isn't inherently racist, nor is it offencive, but it also depends, like any other word, on how you're using it.

Using color to refer to nationality is usually for when the proper term is too long eg. Aboriginal Australian or African American is shortened to black, Caucasian or Hispanic is shortened to white.

Seeing as very few asians are yellow, and yellow is a longer word than asian it could be seen as going out of your way to emphasise what colour he is, but in any case I doubt it will come up very often, I'm hardly ever called by my race.

'Hey you! Yellow!' is probably not the right way to approach someone.

The color label may be considered offensive by some people of color - you'd have to ask them, not a random group of strangers on a gaming forum. Why do you have to label your friends by anything other than their name anyway?

The only time I have ever heard "yellow" used in reference to another person, it was in fiction (books, movies) and was generally referring to cowardice, not racial background.

(D'oh, so used to locking threads, I did lock this momentarily. I am leaving it open, assuming you all can have a reasonably discussion about it.)

How did Asians land on the slang 'Yellow'?

I never noticed you were talking about your friend so I'm in the same boat as everyone else - Why would you be calling your "friend" colours instead of his name. Unless he's ok with being referred to by his race then I wouldn't do it - unless you can't be bothered with him anymore.

Because some of them are kinda maybe a little yellow?

Why are white people called white? White people aren't white at all. And black people aren't black! Native Americans aren't red either!

Interestingly we were educated about our baby during our stay at the NICU and "yellow" was part of the discussion with the pediatrician there because asian babies tend to get jaundice easier shortly after birth. Indeed our baby had a yellow tint to her skin for several days following delivery. My wife is convinced asians do look more naturally yellowish (and the mention of our baby being half yellow half white came up often at baby's first party with my wife's enormous family) but honestly I can't visibly tell. I just take her word for it.

I agree with Leydenne, if someone is your friend, racial and ethnic tags are really not that important. Instead of 'gay' 'straight' 'white dude' 'black dude' etc, just call them by their name. It's not important to label people if they're your friend.

I'm pretty damn white, like a walking bowl of milk.

so if someone isnt your friend you can be racist about them ok

Totally.

If their not your friend it isn't your problem

Not if you're the majority, then your misbehaving

I am pretty sure Yellow was use way before the 70s or something, if that what the old media lead to believe. Other then that, its usually calling any Asian "Chinese", if my childhood memories serve to be true.

That say, these kind of terminology is disrespectful anyway.