# Is "JAP" (Jewish American Princess/Prince) an Offensive Term? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 10, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980 "2011-06-10T15:03:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/61 "2011-06-10T20:00:49Z")
I don’t know why the above posted; I wasn’t finished. See below: > [@Malthus](#): > > As I said - to quote myself, if fact in the bit you have quoted - “yes, it is generally a slur”. Where did I say the opposite? > > I do not agree, for the reasons stated, that it is an “ethnically-based insult”. > > I was challenged to provide an example of someone who found something positive in it - as a matter of fact, by you: Except you didn’t. You found someone who is trying to claim it for a new meaning. Who acknowledged that everything implied by the term “JAP” is negative. And in any event, I was not challenging you to " to provide an example of someone who found something positive in it. " I was asking was part of the “JAP” stereotype was positive. As clearly demonstrated by your example, there is no positive aspect to the term “JAP.” I am going to say this one last time: it is an ethnic slur because otherwise “Jewish” is extraneous. It would just be “princess.” There must be something about Jewishness that makes the women the way they are, otherwise the phrase has no meaning. Which is, to reiterate: spoiled, materialistic, carping, demanding and frigid. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/62 "2011-06-10T20:17:25Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I can understand that, sure. > > The point here is that the authors aren’t totally joking about it either - they seem to really be saying ‘yup, we are real-life Jewish princesses. And we like it’. > > That’s what I mean when I say that yes, it is generally a slur, but that some embrace it as a lifestyle choice-thing. So remember in Rush Hour when Chris Rock said ‘nigger’? Yeah. > [@](#): > > This would be difficult if the term was really harshly perjorative or anti-semitic. Pejorative is pejorative, and _any_ unbiased stereotype that places “Jewish” in front of a negative connotation is anti-Semitic. Kind of like how\*\* I\*\* can **joke** that I got my (small but has a bump) Jewish nose (aka Polish) from my mom, but it’s NOT okay for you to draw a cartoon of me depicting my Jewishness as one with a giant nose and a Gucci bag on her shoulder! Wait? What am I saying? The so-called JAP would’ve had her nose fixed and hair dyed blonde. _JAP_ is the antithesis of traditional Jewish norms. That is why _JAP_ is pretty offensive to most Jewish women. It’s a freaking insult, no matter which way you fling it. Attributing wealth and sleaziness to Jewishness is just wrong. edit: If this were Israel, where a majority of the people were Jewish, and the Jerusalem Jews poked fun at the Tel Aviv Jews for being liberal or emulating Americans, that’s different. They’re not singling them out for any ethnic purposes. So when a non-Jew says “JAP”, my skin prickles. If a girl who wasn’t Jewish called me a JAP and I were ten years younger, I’d be inclined to get in her face. If a Jewish person says it, I quickly correct them. With distaste. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/63 "2011-06-10T20:21:32Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Which is, to reiterate: spoiled, materialistic, carping, demanding and frigid. Basically, everything that mainstream America isn’t. Otherwise known as _You’re not as good as us._ ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/64 "2011-06-10T20:22:42Z")
It’s offensive, but not on the same level as, say, “nigger” or “kike”. Much milder. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/65 "2011-06-10T20:50:11Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > It’s offensive, but not on the same level as, say, “nigger” or “kike”. Much milder. Kike was supposedly something that came from American Jews. And it was to denote geographical traits. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/66 "2011-06-10T21:16:11Z")
I grew up Jewish in a very Jewish suburb. Speaking anecdotical here, of course, but I’ve never considered the term “JAP” to be offensive, and certainly don’t recall it being used as such growing up, even though the term was in common usage. In fact, I seem to even remember girls wearing t-shirts that proudly proclaimed themselves as JAPs. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/67 "2011-06-10T21:23:40Z")
I also recall this book from my youth, [The Jewish American Princess Handbook](http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-American-Princess-Handbook/dp/0943084024/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1307740770&sr=8-4)… not a title you’d expect to see if it really was generally considered to be a slur. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/68 "2011-06-10T21:58:24Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I don’t know why the above posted; I wasn’t finished. See below: > > Except you didn’t. You found someone who is trying to claim it for a new meaning. Who acknowledged that everything implied by the term “JAP” is negative. > > And in any event, I was not challenging you to " to provide an example of someone who found something positive in it. " I was asking was part of the “JAP” stereotype was positive. As clearly demonstrated by your example, there is no positive aspect to the term “JAP.” The stereotype is generally used as a negative it is true; that’s been my opinion all along (though you seem under the illusion it is not). However, the implications are not necessarily. Some people _like_ being materialistic and demanding, and see these as essentially _good_ traits. Think sassy and assertive. That’s “something positive”. > [@](#): > > I am going to say this one last time: it is an ethnic slur because otherwise “Jewish” is extraneous. It would just be “princess.” There must be something about Jewishness that makes the women the way they are, otherwise the phrase has no meaning. Which is, to reiterate: spoiled, materialistic, carping, demanding and frigid. I hear what you are saying; I simply disagree with you. There is a difference between “you are this way, and you are Jewish” and “you are this way because you are Jewish”. The inclusion of “Jewish” in the term is just as meaningful as the inclusion of “American”: it is an identifier. You have offered exactly zero evidence (other than forceful assertion) otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/69 "2011-06-10T21:59:33Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Basically, everything that mainstream America isn’t. > > Otherwise known as _You’re not as good as us._ Mainstream America is the opposite of “materialistic” and “demanding”? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/70 "2011-06-10T23:34:22Z")
I say it’s offensive, but the only time I’ve ever heard it being used, it is from Jewish people. So I might wince internally when I hear it and not use it myself, but I don’t think it rises to the level of “OMG!? YOU BIGOT!!” First time I ever heard the term was in grad school. Two of my labmates were Jewish. Est was a nice enough girl, but ooh boy was she self-absorbed and all cutesy-wootsy. She kept kosher AND was a vegan, which meant never being able to join us when we’d go to the student union or to someone’s celebration at a nearby restaurant. She refused to do any field work on Fridays lest the car break down along the way and she wouldn’t get home before sundown. Even if the field site was just a few miles away and it was just going to be a morning thing. Once, while everyone was busy running experiments, she was absorbed in baby-talking to the orchids she’d brought from home (this was when orchids were all the rave). For real though? I didn’t hate the girl as much as the other labmates did. I just thought she was clueless and on her way out sooner or later. (Oh yeah, and despite her piousness, she slept around the department. Or at least that was the rumor, and it didn’t help that she had a different boyfriend every week. This didn’t help to enamor her to the sisterhood. Which I think is unfair, but whatever. I’m only reporting what happened.) The other Jewish guy in the lab informed all of us, during the many “We hate Est” gossip sessions, that we were dealing with a full-fledged JAP and counted the myriad ways of her JAPness. He spoke with such disgust that I think he was personally embarrassed, even though there was no reason for him to be. Our graduate advisor was Jewish, and the school was not exactly short on Jewish students or professors. And despite coming from a very comfortable background himself, no one could ever accuse him of being pampered and spoiled. But I think in his eyes, she was fulfilling an awful stereotype. I can kinda sympathize, but I think he kinda went overboard with the JAP stuff. (Est did eventally drop out of the lab and switch to another one. No one liked her there either.) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/71 "2011-06-11T00:05:29Z")
I never heard the term until I went to an undergraduate school full of card carrying members of the JAP brigade. I can see how it could be a little offensive but I learned the term from Jewish people and it is certainly an accurate stereotype for select members of the club. Let’s put this in perspective for comparison. 1. Nigger = black poor trash that is likely to do drugs and commit felonies. 2. JAP = a spoiled rotten Jewish girl who controls her wealthy father much like her mother does and plans to repeat the cycle. She gets a new BMW for her 17th birthday and gets sent to a good school to find a nice Jewish boy to lord over. While there, she studies and parties hard while finding the time to work out enough so that she can fit into the newest JAP styled clothes and accessories. If you you were standing in the line for reincarnation and God handed you a menu of stereotypes you could return as, I think JAP would be a very popular pick well above SPIC and even above fun choices like Guido. Like any stereotype, there are real life examples of them and I found it to be useful short-hand in some situations. Even if they overhear you calling them a JAP, you aren’t going to get capped for it. You might be blackballed from the financial industry from then on but you will live. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/72 "2011-06-11T00:54:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Like any stereotype, there are real life examples of them and I found it to be useful short-hand in some situations. Even if they overhear you calling them a JAP, you aren’t going to get capped for it. You might be blackballed from the financial industry from then on but you will live. Unlike saying “nigger”, right? Cuz those niggers WILL pop a cap in you. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/73 "2011-06-11T01:25:26Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Unlike saying “nigger”, right? Cuz those niggers WILL pop a cap in you. > > :rolleyes: A really good one might. Come on **monstro** , I was practically raised a poor black child myself and I didn’t say that. I don’t like the misuse of stereotypes but they don’t pop out of nowhere and there really are ‘Best in Show’ quality entrants for almost all stereotypes out there somewhere. I enjoy meeting them. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/74 "2011-06-11T01:27:16Z")
I worked at a high end wine and grocery store on the north side of Chicago, and the crap I took off some of our Jewish customers would make Fred Rodgers join the Freicorps. But I would never use the term JAP even in my mind. What was the difference between the WASP yuppie bitch and the Mediterreanean one? Or the males from the females, gays or straights? If there is an ethnicity that is predisposed to assure store clerks “don’t worry, I can see that you’re busy and doing your best, and all honest work is dignified so we don’t scorn you” they had a happy enough homeland that none ever emigrated to Chicago (although the other stereotype of the cute elderly Jew came the closest. Go figure) ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/75 "2011-06-11T02:54:56Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > A really good one might. Come on **monstro** , I was practically raised a poor black child myself and I didn’t say that. I don’t like the misuse of stereotypes but they don’t pop out of nowhere and there really are ‘Best in Show’ quality entrants for almost all stereotypes out there somewhere. I enjoy meeting them. Do you enjoy meeting the stereotypes for your demographic? Or is it just caricatures from other groups that you find humorous? Not being argumentative. Just curious. 'Cuz frankly, I don’t like encountering walking stereotypes. They make me uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980/76 "2011-06-11T05:18:04Z")
If they are not an actual princess then yes, I find it offensive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jap-jewish-american-princess-prince-an-offensive-term/584980.md?page=3)