Here's an incident, in regards to this topic, that just occured within the last two days... American Football coach Bill Parcells referred to surprise football plays as "jap plays". Reaction throughout the United States lead me to believe that the J-word is still in fact very inappropriate, at least when used in the US, or in places accessible by Americans. Here are some threads detailing the matter:

6/7/2004
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1817592

6/8/2004
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/06/07/bc.fbn.cowboys.parcells.ap/index.html

--- groink

groink wrote:

Here's an incident, in regards to this topic, that just occured within the last two days... American Football coach Bill Parcells referred to surprise football plays as "jap plays". 6/7/2004 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1817592

Interesting title : Parcells apologized for making ethnic remark

They must be using a different dictionary to my one over there. :rolleyes:

groink wrote:

Here's an incident, in regards to this topic, that just occured within the last two days... American Football coach Bill Parcells referred to surprise football plays as "jap plays". Reaction throughout the United States lead me to believe that the J-word is still in fact very inappropriate, at least when used in the US, or in places accessible by Americans. Here are some threads detailing the matter: 6/7/2004 http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1817592 6/8/2004 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/06/07/bc.fbn.cowboys.parcells.ap/index.html --- groink

Parcells may be a good/great coach, but he's also an idiot. And his remark proves that. Moron.

Yeah, Jap. has traditionally been a short term for Japanese. But during World War II, the Americans made Jap/Japs a derogatory, racist term for Japanese. I prefer Japanese, even if you are too lazy to type it. Jap is today considered a racist word.
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BMW,

Concur with you whole-heartedly! Not trying to be policially correct because I think that's gone too far but unfortunately, too many "public figures", particularly in the sports world, still don't get it when it comes to using derogatory terms regarding Asians as a whole.

And have you noticed that when it comes to making offensive remarks against Japanese-Americans, for example, no matter who makes the remarks it gets very little news play? Take Parcels' comments - it got 1/2 a page in SI, about 3/4 page in ESPN. Here in L.A., the LA Times had no mention of it at all (at least I sure didn't see it on the front page of the sports page), and the local major stations made no mention of it that I'm aware of. And the major TV organizations CBS, NBC and ABC made no comment on it as well, that I heard of. Now compare this to someone making a derogatory comment against blacks. If someone used the "n" word, there would be hell to pay. That person would immediately be labeled a racist, all the TV and radio stations would be carrying on for at least a week, and all the major newspapers around the country would pick it up and carry it, at minimum, on the front page of their sports section.

Interesting, isnt' it, just how far we haven't come?

despite the fact that I totally agree with the point of the word being a totally negative slur...

comparing the "n" word to "jap" is a bit shortsighted.

The 2 words have much different histories that aren't feasibly comparable.
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Ushi, I'm trying hard to understand your perspective. Perhaps I'm mis-interpreting your comments (which is certainly possible) but they seem to imply that because the history of the words are different, offensive/racist remarks are acceptable, at least as they relate to certain ethnic groups. I read in your comments that simply because blacks have suffered so much longer and harsher, and that the "n" word has become a symbol of that suffering, that it's okay to slur Japanese-Americans who don't have that long history of suffering. I truly fail to understand how just because one group has suffered longer/harsher than another, and a word has taken on a less sensitive connotation for the second group, justifies any form of offensive/racist remarks. I've always been taught that racist slurs are unacceptable, period - regardless of the history, the time, the place, etc. It doesn't matter who it's directed at or the circumstances, such comments are out of line, anytime, anyplace.

Don't want to get into a long discussion about this because I know that a lot of this is based on the individual's perspective. I think if we personally haven't been on the receiving end of racist remarks/acts, it's impossible to truly understand its nature and effect.

Nihon-jin wrote:

Ushi, I'm trying hard to understand your perspective. Perhaps I'm mis-interpreting your comments (which is certainly possible) but they seem to imply that because the history of the words are different, offensive/racist remarks are acceptable, at least as they relate to certain ethnic groups.

How can you possibly come to such a conclusion if you read the FIRST part of my first sentence in my post?

"despite the fact that I totally agree with the point of the word being a totally negative slur... "

I agree that it is negative and wrong.

Quote:

I read in your comments that simply because blacks have suffered so much longer and harsher, and that the "n" word has become a symbol of that suffering, that it's okay to slur Japanese-Americans who don't have that long history of suffering.

I am implying that one word has a much more negative connotation than the other does in most circumstances.

They are still both negative terms.

Quote:

I truly fail to understand how just because one group has suffered longer/harsher than another, and a word has taken on a less sensitive connotation for the second group, justifies any form of offensive/racist remarks.

I didn't say either was justified.

Quote:

I've always been taught that racist slurs are unacceptable, period - regardless of the history, the time, the place, etc. It doesn't matter who it's directed at or the circumstances, such comments are out of line, anytime, anyplace.

read above. Again.

Quote:

Don't want to get into a long discussion about this because I know that a lot of this is based on the individual's perspective. I think if we personally haven't been on the receiving end of racist remarks/acts, it's impossible to truly understand its nature and effect.

I've been on the receiving end plenty of times.

don't be so quick to jump the gun. thanks.
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I also believe that it would be a LOT more tolerable to call a Japanese person a "jap" in America's society than it would be to call a black person a "nigger".

The mere fact that you opted to NOT type the word "nigger" but were more than willing to type the word "jap" shows that you were a bit MORE sensitive to the word as well.

There are varied levels and degrees of offensive based on history and connotation... not to say that one is justified and another isn't.



make sense?
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it's a bit offensive, but on this forum as an abb for japanese drama, it should be ok.

kaonashi wrote:

it's a bit offensive, but on this forum as an abb for japanese drama, it should be ok.

There's a reason this is (now) jdorama.

As an abbreviation it should have a period at the appropriate place (e.g. jap. grammar dictionary) but I prefer to avoid that as well. It isn't as if you save huge amounts of time by not typing Japanese in full.

Or you could use simply JP, the Rising Sun Empire's Internet abbreviation.

kaonashi wrote:

it's a bit offensive, but on this forum as an abb for japanese drama, it should be ok.

It's not okay. And it's quite offensive.

there's a story that the author james michener once told to an interviewer. he was using the word "jap" in front of his now-wife. the first time he did, she asked him not to use it because hearst used the word against japanese and japanese americans in his yellow journalist papers. the next time michener used it, she told him that if he ever used it again she'd break his teeth out with a ketchup bottle. at that point, he understood her feelings.

Duneman wrote:

there's a story that the author james michener once told to an interviewer. he was using the word "jap" in front of his now-wife. the first time he did, she asked him not to use it because hearst used the word against japanese and japanese americans in his yellow journalist papers. the next time michener used it, she told him that if he ever used it again she'd break his teeth out with a ketchup bottle. at that point, he understood her feelings.

Good story. He got the message loud and clear.

bmwracer wrote:

Good story. He got the message loud and clear.

Unless he's stubborn like most guys when it comes to a woman's opinion....
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A JAPANTODAY poll started on July 4th...

Current results after i voted...

Is the word "Jap" racist?
"No" ? 1276 votes (50.0%)
"Yes" ? 1274 votes (50.0%)

Total: 2550 votes
Discuss It... (144)

o.O whoa, fiddy fiddy... that's a bit of a surprise.

Fuuj wrote:

A JAPANTODAY poll started on July 4th... Current results after i voted... Is the word "Jap" racist? "No" ? 1276 votes (50.0%) "Yes" ? 1274 votes (50.0%) Total: 2550 votes Discuss It... (144) o.O whoa, fiddy fiddy... that's a bit of a surprise.

Hmm, where was the poll conducted?

bmwracer wrote:

Hmm, where was the poll conducted?

JAPANTODAY

Duneman wrote:

there's a story that the author james michener once told to an interviewer. he was using the word "jap" in front of his now-wife. the first time he did, she asked him not to use it because hearst used the word against japanese and japanese americans in his yellow journalist papers. the next time michener used it, she told him that if he ever used it again she'd break his teeth out with a ketchup bottle. at that point, he understood her feelings.

lol that was cute
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