Do Japanese people consider this a slur? To me it seems like one instance of people using a word with negative connotations doesnt make it a slur or our list of slurs would be far greater. In most instances its just an english shortened version of Japanese.
I looked it up and it seems there is debate over this with mostly Japanese Americans finding the word offensive due to historical context with most others just viewing it as a shortened version of Japanese. (I’m mostly making this comment because Jap is censored in one of my favourite RTS games where the Japanese are a highly used nation and I hate having to use the full word over a 3 letter abv)
I’m from Seattle, a place where many Japanese Americans immigrated to before the war.
… During the war, they were rounded up, shipped to concentration camps on the other side of the state (in a desert), and basically all of their homes and business property/possessions were seized and sold off during the war, and while they were released aome years after the war ended, they were seriously discriminated against for decades afterward.
I obviously can’t speak for all Japanese people, but yeah, Japanese Americans I’ve known find ‘Jap’ to be a slur. There’s a good amount of newspapers and even US propaganda films shown to either the military and/or the public, and other media, that use the term ‘Jap’ alongside rascist cariacatures…
Dr Seuss, more widely known as an author/illustrator of childrens books, actually drew a good amount of these racist cariacatures.
A likely NSFW example
This was a poster, an advertisement for a war bond, drawn by Dr Seuss
The even worse slur… is something I’m not even comfortable typing out… basically, similarly shorten Nippon (which is a name of ‘Japan’ in Japanese, along with Nihon) to only the first syllable.
That one is an even more severe slur and was commonly used during the war. It’s basically as severe, rude and disrespectful as the n-word with a hard r to refer to Black people.
If you want to use a 3 letter abbreviation for Japan, I’d suggest JPN.
The shortened version of Nippon is also considered an unusable slur where im from as well since its only ever used with negative intent. Its interesting to read about the different perspectives of this word around the world. Since the word is offensive to some Japanese people I should refrain from using the world online.
Speaking the language doesn’t mean knowing the context.
I feel strongly that this is still why London slang exists.
Calling you a berk won’t get me a ban probably, no matter what it actually stands for. And I’m not calling you that, just to make sure to point that out.
Im Finnish, and while you can use “Finnish person”, colloquially we’re known as Finns. But please don’t try using the same logic for Pakistan.
Worth pointing out that for the rest of the world this is often hard to navigate. Americans have a reputation for excessive self-censorship based on pearl-clutching, with “the F word” or “p*rn” or censoring nipples.
So sometimes actual strongly hateful or dehumanising language gets dismissed as another example of oversensitity.
Just to clarify, I didn’t think OP was being insensitive. My question was genuine, and I didn’t think they knew. And yes, there is a lot of unnecessary censorship in the US. You can’t say fuck on TV or the radio. I was listening to a station from New Zealand and that made me realize we’re the only Country that does that. Censoring nipples is fucking stupid too. I really don’t censor myself. I’m told I’m a very outspoken person. The only words I won’t say are slurs because I believe they are actually harmful and disrespectful.
Please explain
“Japs” was used by Americans during WW2 so it has pretty negative connotations there.
Do Japanese people consider this a slur? To me it seems like one instance of people using a word with negative connotations doesnt make it a slur or our list of slurs would be far greater. In most instances its just an english shortened version of Japanese.
I looked it up and it seems there is debate over this with mostly Japanese Americans finding the word offensive due to historical context with most others just viewing it as a shortened version of Japanese. (I’m mostly making this comment because Jap is censored in one of my favourite RTS games where the Japanese are a highly used nation and I hate having to use the full word over a 3 letter abv)
I’m from Seattle, a place where many Japanese Americans immigrated to before the war.
… During the war, they were rounded up, shipped to concentration camps on the other side of the state (in a desert), and basically all of their homes and business property/possessions were seized and sold off during the war, and while they were released aome years after the war ended, they were seriously discriminated against for decades afterward.
I obviously can’t speak for all Japanese people, but yeah, Japanese Americans I’ve known find ‘Jap’ to be a slur. There’s a good amount of newspapers and even US propaganda films shown to either the military and/or the public, and other media, that use the term ‘Jap’ alongside rascist cariacatures…
Dr Seuss, more widely known as an author/illustrator of childrens books, actually drew a good amount of these racist cariacatures.
A likely NSFW example
This was a poster, an advertisement for a war bond, drawn by Dr Seuss
The even worse slur… is something I’m not even comfortable typing out… basically, similarly shorten Nippon (which is a name of ‘Japan’ in Japanese, along with Nihon) to only the first syllable.
That one is an even more severe slur and was commonly used during the war. It’s basically as severe, rude and disrespectful as the n-word with a hard r to refer to Black people.
If you want to use a 3 letter abbreviation for Japan, I’d suggest JPN.
The shortened version of Nippon is also considered an unusable slur where im from as well since its only ever used with negative intent. Its interesting to read about the different perspectives of this word around the world. Since the word is offensive to some Japanese people I should refrain from using the world online.
It’s a goddamn minefield, especially for someone like me who hates excessive censorship.
Speaking the language doesn’t mean knowing the context.
I feel strongly that this is still why London slang exists.
Calling you a berk won’t get me a ban probably, no matter what it actually stands for. And I’m not calling you that, just to make sure to point that out.
Im Finnish, and while you can use “Finnish person”, colloquially we’re known as Finns. But please don’t try using the same logic for Pakistan.
No idea, really. See my other reply to daggermoon.
Well said
Worth pointing out that for the rest of the world this is often hard to navigate. Americans have a reputation for excessive self-censorship based on pearl-clutching, with “the F word” or “p*rn” or censoring nipples.
So sometimes actual strongly hateful or dehumanising language gets dismissed as another example of oversensitity.
Just to clarify, I didn’t think OP was being insensitive. My question was genuine, and I didn’t think they knew. And yes, there is a lot of unnecessary censorship in the US. You can’t say fuck on TV or the radio. I was listening to a station from New Zealand and that made me realize we’re the only Country that does that. Censoring nipples is fucking stupid too. I really don’t censor myself. I’m told I’m a very outspoken person. The only words I won’t say are slurs because I believe they are actually harmful and disrespectful.
Thanks!