Use of the word 'Jap' - is it offensive?

[Teacher_Dan_1]

Hello to all new friends:
Well, this is a very touchy subject. The word is very offensive and should never be used. Myself, I would never use a word like that. Not only is it disrespectfull, but, it is the kind of word that could bring so many problems that isn't really needed. We have more important thing to think of right now. Like helping those in need for the ones who lost so much after the terrible storm a couple weeks ago. So why don't we all get back on track and remember one of the most important things in life.We are the world and need to get along in life. Because if we can't get along with one another in life,life itself will be worthless. that is all from me. thank you all my new friends.
Teacher_Dan_1
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[babydoll]

I never knew people said : "Jap."

[MixxDreamer]

you do now, welcome to the boards
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[bmwracer]

Pith Pulchritude wrote:

Plus, it doesn't cost much to write out the additional "anese" at the end.

You'd be surprised how lazy some people are.....

[chickfest]

i myself am not Japanese, but what Maya has said is rather worrying. i understand that she may be angry at the origional name of the website but her message was to aggressive by my views. others may call me racist for saying this but i think she needs to take a chill pill. JapDrama was a good name for the site, it shows that it was a Japanese site. though i understand if people got angry about it. coloured people dont like to be called by the 'N' word, but i dont think they would have reacted the way Maya did. I think she was angry when she wrote her reply and in doing so went to far. If anyone disagrees with me ill be happy to discuss with you your point of view.

[kitakaze]

In my experience...the only way the word "Jap" has been used is derrogitory. I'm glad the domain name was changed.
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-=kitakaze=-

[bmwracer]

kitakaze wrote:

In my experience...the only way the word "Jap" has been used is derrogitory.

Yes yes. And to top it off, a number of idiots in the past used that term in referring to any and all Asians...

Quote:

I'm glad the domain name was changed.

Me too.

[kitakaze]

A grand-uncle (is that a real word? my grandpa was about 60 when my dad was born, so....) fought in the pacific during world war II, and he used to the word jap during his tour, probably for understandable reasons.

After the war, as part of the occupational force...he decided to stop using it because of the feelings of hate it brought up. He decided to the forgive the Japanese, and actually became interested in Japanese culture. I think that's a good example of what's right.

Just shows that there is a lot of baggage with this word.
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-=kitakaze=-

[bmwracer]

kitakaze wrote:

I think that's a good example of what's right.

Absolutely.

Sad to say, but most people aren't that forgiving.

Quote:

Just shows that there is a lot of baggage with this word.

Tons.

[kitakaze]

Quote:

Absolutely. Sad to say, but most people aren't that forgiving. Sad

Well...even though he chose to be forgiving, I don't think it was really easy for him.
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-=kitakaze=-

[bmwracer]

kitakaze wrote:

Well...even though he chose to be forgiving, I don't think it was really easy for him.

I wouldn't think it would be, but he did manage to do it.

[ahochaude]

chickfest wrote:

JapDrama was a good name for the site, it shows that it was a Japanese site.

As far as a domain name identifying what type of site it is, I think "Jdorama.com" has the same effect.

chickfest wrote:

coloured people dont like to be called by the 'N' word, but i dont think they would have reacted the way Maya did.

If a site were named something like (just for example, so no offense please to people of African descent) "N*ggastyle.com", I believe that you will get some responses in the same tone as Maya's. If not, more.

chickfest wrote:

I think she was angry when she wrote her reply and in doing so went to far. If anyone disagrees with me ill be happy to discuss with you your point of view.

(IMO) When it comes to ethnicity and derogratory slangs, people will come off from all types of angles in emotion.
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[Leyy]

oh, i didn't know that is derogatory my apologies, like some of you here...we were just used to shorten words or names...i didn't realize that...i'll deff keep that in mind

thanks to illuminati for providing the link to this thread....

[yume]

If people want to shorten Japanese, here are the other standards I've seen:

Jp
Jpn
(I use Jpn a lot--and it's only three letters!)

Just a sidenote of what someone probably already said...I noticed the word "Jap" on many Japanese-fan forums on the net. The majority of this use is by non-North Americans who probably haven't heard of the word nearly as much as N.A.'s have. If you're an ESL-speaker, this might have been shocking, when nearly everything on the net is easily shortened (especially with young people).

Here are some other ones that I use

Chinese -> Chn
African -> Afr
American -> Am
Canadian -> Cnd
French -> Fr
etc...These are, in general, often used on the IME settings on WinXP, hahahahaha!

[fone]

I'm Asian (Taiwanese) and have watched Japanese dramas and listened to the music for several years but only about two months ago did I learn that "Jap" was derogatory from a friend... She knew I had no idea and so was relatively calm about it, but I could still tell she was a little pissed off, which I can understand. So after all that rambling, I'm just here to say that I'm glad also the name was changed.

[The Man]

Let's turn the tables a bit.

To what extent is the word "gaijin" considered derogatory in Japan? More than before? Less than before? No change? Or whatever?

[bmwracer]

The Man wrote:

Let's turn the tables a bit. To what extent is the word "gaijin" considered derogatory in Japan? More than before? Less than before? No change? Or whatever?

Not having been there (unfortunately) I couldn't say. But if it's got the baggage that the J-word has, I wouldn't use it.

[KouSeiya315]

The Man wrote:

Let's turn the tables a bit. To what extent is the word "gaijin" considered derogatory in Japan? More than before? Less than before? No change? Or whatever?

Hmm, I can't speak for all, but sometimes gaijin is used as derogatory, but sometimes it's not. Being American and having been told gaijin is like calling someone "foreigner" or "outside-person" which would be kinda offensive here, I kinda took slight offense even when none was intended, but I would let it blow over. I would prefer to be referred to as "gaikokujin" but that's a matter of my technical preference.

Once in a while you'll hear them slap a san at the end of gaijin as an attempt to make it sound less mreh, I guess. I remember I was at school once in the language lab when I was studying a summer abroad in Japan. I asked the chick a question and she didn't know the answer, and she started rattling off to the other Japanese girl next to her, asking her if she knew and she said in reference to me and what I said "...ano gaijin-san...". I looked at her because I hadn't been called that yet, and she looked at me with a "OH!" expression, so I'm not sure what that meant, whether she shouldn't have said it like that or whether she just didn't know I could understand. She, like many other Japanese I encountered, thought I didn't understand what she was saying. But alas, I was called that a few more times. I guess it's better than gaijin?

Gaijin and gaijin-san kinda got on my nerves and I preferred to be called "gaikokujin", but who am I to say and does it really matter? I was an outsider all the same I guess My friend was called "kaigai no hito" by someone, and I hadn't heard it when he said it. I said "what'd he call you?" and she told me, and I was like "OMFG that's so awesome".

[bmwracer]

KouSeiya315 wrote:

I remember I was at school once in the language lab when I was studying a summer abroad in Japan. I asked the chick a question and she didn't know the answer, and she started rattling off to the other Japanese girl next to her, asking her if she knew and she said in reference to me and what I said "...ano gaijin-san...". I looked at her because I hadn't been called that yet, and she looked at me with a "OH!" expression, so I'm not sure what that meant, whether she shouldn't have said it like that or whether she just didn't know I could understand.

Sounds like she was surprised that you understood. Heh, that probably made her sweat a little.

[niko2x]

gaijin? to me it doesn't matter because being asian, i can sorta blend in until my non native JPNese comes out. also because i'm asian, i'm not REALLY considered gaijin/gaijin-san.
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