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

[thtl]

Anime Dad wrote:

I was curious about that...... not being able to read Japanese....

It means something like 'hypocrite' in Chinese. I'll have to look up my dictionary to see if it means the same in Japanese Kanji.

[Tu_triky]

thtl wrote:

It means something like 'hypocrite' in Chinese. I'll have to look up my dictionary to see if it means the same in Japanese Kanji.

it has that meaning as well in japanese.

[ganmo]

The word Gizensha means hypocrite.

I want to apologise to everyone here. I was very angry at Black Dragon's remarks and didn't know what else to say or how else to respond. Lots I wanted to say but I couldn't find the words. Him being a newbie and all.

Quote:

Ouch.... looks like I hit a nerve. To answer you, just so my argument is complete, I lived in Germany when I was young but then went to high school in England..... If thats the only flaw in my argument, I am WELL pleased.

Gave me the impression he only came here to start something.

It was not meant for anyone else here...I like you all.

I'm very sorry.

[Anime Dad]

It's cool with me ganmo-chan. I guess the way you were feeling, you showed some restraint.

[krim]

Black Dragon 1000 wrote:

Ouch.... looks like I hit a nerve. To answer you, just so my argument is complete, I lived in Germany when I was young but then went to high school in England..... If thats the only flaw in my argument, I am WELL pleased.

sorry to disappoint you, ye who liveth under a bridge, you didn't hit a nerve. i'd comment, but everyone else beat me to it.

[ganmo]

Quote:

Word to Japanese ppl! If anyone calls you a 'jap' just stare back at them and think 'Thank god! I am from one of the greatest civilisations on earth and not woteva little bollocks country you just crawled out from! Thank god I am not like you, you stupid piece of shit!' However if someone calls you a 'jap' please try to distinguish between someone who doesn't or hardly knows you (aka an idiot) and one of your best mates (he's probs joking!). HOWEVER, to ppl who use the word 'jap'......me included... I guess it is important to know who you are talking to and find out if they are gonna have a fit everytime you say something vaguely racial, and don't use it on ppl you dont know....

So, in a face to face situation (not online), you're telling us to ignore the idiots that call us a "Jap" yet you admit you use the word and have no problems with it? Who are you to stand there preaching and telling us who have had this word used against us, who understand why this word is so offensive, to just smile and ignore it? Do you honestly think that we would stand there and think, well, I'm from one of the greatest civilisations on earth, etc., so I'm better than them and I can ignore it? Do you think that we're that naive, stupid and arrogant to think that way? By the way, I can distinguish whether people are deliberately using the word to be nasty or whether they don't know any better. That's why, I haven't said anything to the few who have inadvertantly used the word here on this forum...I try to give them the benefit of the doubt.

You say, you hang around a lot of Japanese, belong to "Jap" clubs, been to Japan but that does not make you Japanese. You will never be Japanese and therefore you will never know what it's like to be born and raised Japanese, especially Japanese-American, anymore than a White person who hangs around African-Americans and tries to be "ghetto" will ever truly know what it's like to be African American.

I'll tell you - this is what it's like to be Japanese-American - I am tired of having to apologise for Pearl Harbor and for what the Japanese did during WWII. When my Scottish coworker says, "I had a relative who had been taken by the Japanese as a POW, but on the way to Japan, the Americans torpedoed the ship and everyone died - including my relative". What am I supposed to say? As Japanese and an American, am I supposed to bow and say, I'm so very sorry? To have something like that said to me cuts deep inside of me because I can't say or do anything to make things "okay". It's like this all the time - some people can take it, others can't...I just happen to be the latter.

Quote:

(sorry japanse ppl but dropping THOSE bombs however horrifying wasn't as fucked up as some of the shit that you guys did in Korea/China).

Excuse me...did you just say at the beginning that you loved everything about Japan, the people, yadda yadda...? What sort of statement is that to make? Nobody deserves to have their countries destroyed, their people obliterated - doesn't matter if it's Japan, Germany, London, Paris...whatever. War is hell, no one wins in the end, and the only ones who really suffer are the ordinary citizens caught up in it. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, there were innocent civilians killed by falling anti-aircraft shells - my grandmother and mother almost ended up on the casualty list. My family in Yamaguchi, Japan suffered, being caught in right in the middle of Hiroshima and Nagasaki...don't ever say that they "deserved it"...no one does. I called you a gizensha - know what that means? Think about it.

Again, I apologise to the other forum members...this is what I had wanted to say. This is why I was so angry.

[krim]

Dont feed the troll.

[Tu_triky]

krim wrote:

Dont feed the troll.

haha....i was going to the other day...but i said i'd rather feed myself and left for Shinsengumi, yo.

[krim]

Tu_triky wrote:

haha....i was going to the other day...but i said i'd rather feed myself and left for Shinsengumi, yo.

nice!
way better use of time, energy and stomach.

[ganmo]

Quote:

Dont feed the troll.

I hadn't intended to...thus my one word reply. But I felt I owed the other forum members an explanation...and an apology. If the person comes back, I won't reply...I've had my say.

[krim]

ganmo wrote:

Quote: Dont feed the troll. I hadn't intended to...thus my one word reply. But I felt I owed the other forum members an explanation...and an apology. If the person comes back, I won't reply...I've had my say.

no worries, just dont answer the other 2 questions, and detour around the bridge completely.

[ganmo]

Quote:

no worries, just dont answer the other 2 questions, and detour around the bridge completely.

Thanks...I'll remember that...

[Tu_triky]

krim wrote:

nice! way better use of time, energy and stomach.

and stomach...

[Anime Dad]

Black Dragon 1000 wrote:

yahooo

Hmmm, edited his post and buggered off.

[krim]

me thinks it was a mod, cause most of the quoted text is gone too.

[gaijin mark]

Anime Dad wrote:

Hmmm, edited his post and buggered off.

Most bigots are basically chickenshit to begin with. He just confirmed it.

[ganmo]

Good to see he buggered off. Has he been banned? He should be if he hasn't.

[Enna]

@ganmo: I really want to say how sorry I am to hear that other people felt the need to blame you for all of the Japanese soldiers in WWII. Too bad that insensitive person didn't remember that all parties involved suffered death and loss of their families and friends.

This whole thread is about an offensive word. I hope that all who are either reading it or posting in it can remember to treat other human beings the same way you would want to be treated; with dignity and respect. I find it interesting that people can come to this MB and have so much respect and admiration for the politeness of the Japanese, yet don't know how to take a leaf from their page and treat everyone else accordingly.

Here is a quote to keep in mind:

"Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.�h ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

[ganmo]

Quote:

@ganmo: I really want to say how sorry I am to hear that other people felt the need to blame you for all of the Japanese soldiers in WWII. Too bad that insensitive person didn't remember that all parties involved suffered death and loss of their families and friends.

Hi Enna...Thank you so much...please don't apologise, no need for it.

I don't think she meant to be rude. One day, she came up to me and told me about her relative and what happened to him. I was taken aback and didn't know how to respond. My first thoughts were..."why is she telling me this...?" So, all I could say was, "ah...what should I say to you? Okay...I'm very sorry about what happened...but war is hell, you know..." And then she just said, "Oh, No...I didn't mean it that way, I thought you might be interested..."

Maybe she thought, because I'm Japanese-American, I might find it interesting to know what happened. Still, as I mentioned, her words cut right through me because I was put in a situation where I had absolutely no idea what to say to her.

Anyway, she's not the first to bring up the subject...but at least she's not making a joke out of it like some people have in the past. "Hey, you're a Jap...so, how do you feel about Pearl Harbor? Guilty as heck, I bet! Ha! Ha!" That sort of thing...

Quote:

This whole thread is about an offensive word. I hope that all who are either reading it or posting in it can remember to treat other human beings the same way you would want to be treated; with dignity and respect. I find it interesting that people can come to this MB and have so much respect and admiration for the politeness of the Japanese, yet don't know how to take a leaf from their page and treat everyone else accordingly. Here is a quote to keep in mind: "Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.�h ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

"Excellent...!!!" ~ To quote from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

[Anime Dad]

Geez ganmo-chan, that must have been so tough for you... aren't you from Hawaii? Being American-born and Japanese by race... you have a foot in both camps, so to speak.

When that person said that, you should have replied "Well, do you feel bad about Hiroshima?" Although I doubt you ever would.