The term "Jap" - an abbreviation or an insult?

[wolves_wanderer]

sebhaque said:

Having a social with some visitors from the US, the chat moved onto cars. I mentioned that I drove a Japanese car and "have great respect for the Jap approach to building cars." Said American visitors were taken aback by this comment, saying that the term was as offensive as the derogatory term to describe Pakistanis.

I raise this thread as a point of discussion. I have certainly never thought the term "Jap" was offensive - it's just an abbreviation for Japanese. While I am indeed almost synonymous with the Pakistani slang, I believe that is only a faux pas due to its past usage. Is this why the Japanese term is a no-no in the US? I'm very confused as to why that particular term is a no-no when I've not heard a word against it.

Jap is offensive in the US but not here. is offensive over here but used freely by Aussies as an abbreviation in the same way as we use Jap.

[WinstonWolf]

Kiltie said:

WinstonWolf said:

That is inappropriate use of language on a public forum, kindly report yourself to the mods.

If you think it's inappropriate, it should be you who does the reporting.

You've reported virtually every other topic and now you indulge in racist humour? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

[Kiltie]

WinstonWolf said:

You've reported virtually every other topic and now you indulge in racist humour? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

Now I'm really confused.

What other topics have I reported?

[Fort Jefferson]

ClassicMotorNut said:

You just have to make sure you don't use '' to refer to an Indian or else there'll be hell about it.

Or worse still, call someone from Pakistan an Indian.

[recordman]

A friend of mine used to work for Ofsted. I sent him a personal email to his work email address a while ago and included the word 'Jap'. The mail got vetoed by Ofsted's anti-abuse system, so some people in the UK consider it offensive.

[J4CKO]

Jap in America can be a term to describe Jewish American princess, a sort of stereotypical Jewish woman,

But in context, they probably didn't think it was that.

[Dr Jekyll]

vsonix said:

I like that.

But I've always found this a bit silly. If a load of people from another country started using 'Brit' in a slightly pejorative way (oh they all smell of marmite) would it really be worth the effort to get worked up over it when other people are simply into brevity?

In Ireland 'Brit' is sometimes used as a pejorative term, it all depends on context.

One Motorbike magazine was criticised a few years back for using the word 'jap' simply as an abbreviation. Instead of apologising they simply pointed out that the word in itself wasn't an insult. They said something like 'Saying British bikes leak oil is an insult, saying jap bikes are reliable is a compliment.'

[SrMoreno]

I can't see the Japanese themselves getting offended by the term, especially considering how outrageously racist much of Japanese culture is. I think this might be another case of people getting offended on someone else's behalf.

Edited by SrMoreno on Saturday 12th April 10:56

[zb]

dibbers006 said:

Ssh... nobody mention...

http://www.japfest.co.uk

or http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?h=0&a...

[dondan]

nagsheadwarrior said:

Whats Kiwi short for?

Kiwistanese

Kiwistan is a very volatile part of the Frootboala region.

[davepoth]

Kiltie said:

WinstonWolf said:

You've reported virtually every other topic and now you indulge in racist humour? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

Now I'm really confused.

What other topics have I reported?

Pak it in, the pair of you.

[ILoveMondeo]

Legacywr said:

What about "Jap's eye"?

100% not racist!

Alan Davies said it on QI !

There would have been all manner of wailing in the press if it was racist!

I'd have thought "japs eye" was more racist that referring to someone from Japan as a jap!

Also to add, there was a survivor of the WW2 Burma prison camps on the Radio the other day, who also refered to them as "japs" on the Today Program. No wailing about that one either... although I'd expect he's entitled to call them whatever the fk he likes!

[danjama]

SrMoreno said:

I can't see the Japanese themselves getting offended by the term, especially considering how outrageously racist much of Japanese culture is. I think this might be another case of people getting offended on someone else's behalf.

Edited by SrMoreno on Saturday 12th April 10:56

Yes, americans are disgustingly expert at this.

Perhaps the offence at 'Jap' is a hyper-sensitive reaction due to their recent history of warfare with them? (ww2).

[wst]

A friend from Spain is called Paquita, or Paqui for short. Qui is pronounced "ki".

Took quite a while to get used to saying her name.

[Studio117]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32we2LlY-Kg

[Marty63]

the screws to fix iron work to gates

are known as 'black japs',

had to stop using the term as it double offends apparently.

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?source=search_app&a...

[Axionknight]

I wouldn't think so no, Brit, Scot etc etc, where I come from (England, live in Scotland) it's simply the shortening of the word as per the examples I gave - clearly it means something different to the Yanks though.

When I worked for a machine building company the people who painted the frames that our fabricators built had a "swatch" book for the colours and one was called n*gg*r brown,

[smegmore]

WinstonWolf said:

Kiltie said:

WinstonWolf said:

That is inappropriate use of language on a public forum, kindly report yourself to the mods.

If you think it's inappropriate, it should be you who does the reporting.

You've reported virtually every other topic and now you indulge in racist humour? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

Didn't Kiltie win the 2013 Long Service Award in Website Feedback?

[Studio117]

smegmore said:

WinstonWolf said:

Kiltie said:

WinstonWolf said:

That is inappropriate use of language on a public forum, kindly report yourself to the mods.

If you think it's inappropriate, it should be you who does the reporting.

You've reported virtually every other topic and now you indulge in racist humour? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

Didn't Kiltie win the 2013 Long Service Award in Website Feedback?

killjoy Kiltie

[eldar]

Marty63 said:

the screws to fix iron work to gates

are known as 'black japs',

had to stop using the term as it double offends apparently.

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?source=search_app&a...

Abbreviation for Japanned, which just sounds like some bukkake variation...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanning