Tool is just a word:
From dictionary.com
A device, such as a saw, used to perform or facilitate manual or mechanical work.
A machine, such as a lathe, used to cut and shape machine parts or other objects.
The cutting part of such a machine.
Something regarded as necessary to the carrying out of one's occupation or profession: Words are the tools of our trade.
...however, if I were to call someone a tool on these forums it would be seen as a slanderous remark, everything is dependent of its popular social meaning.
Even though Jap is sytactically a shortening of the word Japanese you cannot overlook its social ramifications.
One has to go back to WW2 and the anti-Japanese movement here in the states to find the origins of its popular usage.
The head of the U.S. Navy, Admiral William Halsey, told his troops, "Kill Japs; Kill Japs; Kill more Japs." The military erected billboards with racist slogans throughout the Pacific Islands that they captured. One of these told soldiers, "Kill Japs; Kill more Japs; you will be doing your part if you help kill those yellow bastards."
This was America in during WW2, not to mention the internment camps which were just as appauling. By calling someone a Jap, you are reffering to its initial definition, regardless of your intent.
Chaotic42
Lifer
- Jun 15, 2001
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I don't think you're getting my point. Obviously, "You damn Jap" only has one meaning. Much like "You damn American" or "You damn milk delivery guy".
Saying something like "The Jap government voted to increase the military budget by 10% today" doesn't seem racist, to me anyway.
Don't get me wrong, racism is a bad thing. I'd say it's one of the worst problems facing America. However, I do think that people get offended *way* too easily. If I go up to some Japenese dude and say "Hey, you f---ing jap", it's wrong, and I deserve what I get. I also think that it's wrong for someone to say "You said, Jap! You're a racist". You could replace Jap with anything, and the statment has been said by someone, which is wrong.
Perhaps in a couple hundred years we'll forget, but there are still people alive who had to endure the name calling and placement into the internment camps. Can you really tell someone who had to go through it all to forget about it because it only happened 60 years ago?!?
American is not a race, Japanese is. America is comprised of people from all across the world. Can you change the fact that you are American? Yes. Can you change the fact that you are Japanese. Absolutely not.
Chaotic42
Lifer
- Jun 15, 2001
- 34,801
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Well, that is a good point. I don't use the word Jap (except in this thread), because it does offend some people. I still don't think that it should, but it does. I'm 20, so I certainly wasn't alive then, and I've still got a lot to learn about everything, but I don't think that there are many people who were in those camps that post here.
I would imagine that most of the people here that say they take offense to it are 40 or younger. Propaganda exists in every war. I'll go back to the Russian example. Russki was used as a derogatory term to refer to Russians (heck, just communists in general) during the cold war.
The Cold War is over now. Russia is no longer our enemy. Russki is no longer a bad word.
WW2 is over now. Japan is no longer our enemy, and in my opinion, Jap is no longer a bad word.
Jap
If you are a 'gangsta rapper' you may think it's cool to call your friends 'niggaz', but most people would not want to be called that. If you know the other person and know he/she will not take offense you can call him/her Jap, but I wouldn't call just any Japanese person that. One of my family members married a Japanese girl, so I have Japanese family too, but the people who held my great-grandmother captive during WW II will always be 'Japs' to me. It just has a total different feeling for me.
In the same way the Dutch called Germans 'Mof' for ages, and it is still used as derogative term, but I would not address my German colleagues with that word. It's meant as an insultive description, and until the bad feeling behind the word is gone you are better off not using it at all.
The meaning of the word may change, but there are still enough people around who only have the negative feelings when hearing it.
If you are a 'gangsta rapper' you may think it's cool to call your friends 'niggaz', but most people would not want to be called that. If you know the other person and know he/she will not take offense you can call him/her Jap, but I wouldn't call just any Japanese person that. One of my family members married a Japanese girl, so I have Japanese family too, but the people who held my great-grandmother captive during WW II will always be 'Japs' to me. It just has a total different feeling for me.
In the same way the Dutch called Germans 'Mof' for ages, and it is still used as derogative term, but I would not address my German colleagues with that word. It's meant as an insultive description, and until the bad feeling behind the word is gone you are better off not using it at all.
The meaning of the word may change, but there are still enough people around who only have the negative feelings when hearing it.
I'm not asking you to change your opinion but I am hoping that you and others are sensitive to those who may take offense to it. Even though you may not find it derogatory many others including myself and Japanese Americans still do. We should all respect the opinions of those to whom the term was initally intended for and regardless of personal opinion be cognizant of its non-usage.
There are also people still alive who had to fight those 'Japs'. Using that logic, does that mean it's still okay for those people to use the term (I'm genuinely asking).
In addition, I don't know about you, but I was born in America, and (I think) this makes me an American. I may have German, English, and French blood in me, but I've never lived in those countries, spoke those languages, wholeheartedly engaged in their cultures, etc. I do not believe that I can change the fact that I am an American.
edro
Lifer
- Apr 5, 2002
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Why would they lock it? You are love to draw attention to yourself.
Anyways...... I don't think it is racist.
Germ = German
Unit = United Stated
Ital = Italian
Chin = Chinese
Swed = Swedish
SO why then would Jap be considered racist? Also, a racist word is only as powerful as it's symantec. If you use it in a racist way, it is.
i think its racist, just as calilng them a "nip" would be also racist. which is a varient of nippon, which is what japan is in japanese.
i don't know how sensitive they are about being called that, as i haven't really called a japanese person that to their face, but i'd rather be discreet, and make fun o them only behind their back.
on the side note, Filipino people dun like being call a "flip" either, i heard from a friend that it means "small island people" and that's offensive to them. maybe to some more than others? who knows...
i don't know how sensitive they are about being called that, as i haven't really called a japanese person that to their face, but i'd rather be discreet, and make fun o them only behind their back.
on the side note, Filipino people dun like being call a "flip" either, i heard from a friend that it means "small island people" and that's offensive to them. maybe to some more than others? who knows...
You can move from the US to Canada. If you become a legal citizen there, then you are Canadian
Nobody is ethnically American, perhaps only Native Americans are which is debatable.
I think my initial point has been lost. My point that the term Jap has derogatory origins from World War 2, not everyone may consider it a racist term but many do. Who are we to tell others that they are being over-sensitive? If some view the term as being racist, especially those to whom it was intended for then we have to respect their opinions.
Even dictionary.com as Skyclad1uhm1 has posted has it defined as a "disparaging term for a person of Japanese birth or descent."
dahunan
Lifer
- Jan 10, 2002
- 18,191
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My opinion too and I don't even consider it to be a form of PC to consider it as a racist term
Jap n. Offensive Slang
Used as a disparaging term for a person of Japanese birth or descent.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=jap
Do not take this rudely... but how could anyone not consider it to be racist? The only people I have ever heard use it were racists.
Originally posted by: Jombo
i think its racist, just as calilng them a "nip" would be also racist. which is a varient of nippon, which is what japan is in japanese.
i don't know how sensitive they are about being called that, as i haven't really called a japanese person that to their face, but i'd rather be discreet, and make fun o them only behind their back.
on the side note, Filipino people dun like being call a "flip" either, i heard from a friend that it means "small island people" and that's offensive to them. maybe to some more than others? who knows...
i lived in northern california, where there is probably the largest filipino american population in the US, and i can say that FLIP was not considered racist there. also, 'nip' and 'beloved patriot' are derogatory terms , but , from what i gathered, they are associated with vietnamese americans--not japanese. lastly, i do not consider "jap" racist one bit.
this was growing up in a school of 50% asian americans, in a town of 40% asian americans
it is considered to be, but shouldn't be.
first off, asshole and beloved patriot are not the same because they are not short for anything. it's chinese, not chinkese. but all the same, if you called me asshole or beloved patriot, i would not care. seriously...
the one that gets me most is when people call me chinaman and wait for my response. i don't even understand why that would be vaguely insulting.... i'm a chinaman.... i'm chinese.... male.... makes sense to me.
first off, asshole and beloved patriot are not the same because they are not short for anything. it's chinese, not chinkese. but all the same, if you called me asshole or beloved patriot, i would not care. seriously...
the one that gets me most is when people call me chinaman and wait for my response. i don't even understand why that would be vaguely insulting.... i'm a chinaman.... i'm chinese.... male.... makes sense to me.
well whenever i use it, it is not meant to be disparaging. i didn't even know it was racist until my sixth grade teacher complained when i used it in a paper. it made and still makes sense to use it... it is short for japanese, just like jew is short for jewish and brit is short for british... erm person.
Siddhartha
Lifer
- Oct 17, 1999
- 12,505
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Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
If "Jew" isn't, I don't see why "Jap" is considered racist.
Are you Japanese?
It is not the word, it is how it is used and who uses it.
I try to address people the way they want to be addressed
my wife and I used to have Japanese students and one day a student got out her dictionary and looked up the word "Jap" and in amongst it was "bloody Jap" and that is why they don't like it, because it was and is used as a racist thing, a leftover from WW2.
Personally, I feel the word beloved patriot is racist. I don't see the words Jap or Nip as being racist though.
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