# Is "Nip" a racist term? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nip-a-racist-term/660166 "2013-06-05T00:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nip-a-racist-term/660166/41 "2013-06-06T02:55:57Z")
I could get so bad that we’re no longer to say [Nip it in the bud!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de_P2aUZJyA). ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nip-a-racist-term/660166/42 "2013-06-06T03:34:48Z")
> [@Schism](#): > > Also I think a case could be made that the shortening of the word to “Nip” was not meant to be racist per se. “Let’s go assault that machine gun nest of nipponese, men!” being a bit of a mouthful for a sergeant in the heat of battle, I could see it getting pared down to “Kill those Nips!” Nope. This is incorrect. Many, if not most, if not damn nearly all of the Americans fighting the Japanese in WWII hated them. Admiral Halsay was famous for putting up a sign which said “Kill japs, kill japs and kill more japs.” > [@Marley23](#): > > No, they Japanese call their country Nihon. I think the word was sometimes transliterated as Nippon because P and H are nearly the same character in kanji. So it’s not “what they call their own country,” and people who used the insult didn’t know much of anything about the people or country they were insulting. Surprise! That’s one of the reasons the “but they say it about themselves!” defense never works. This is also incorrect. Please see my post above. The word comes from two characters, 日\*　nichi\* which means the sun and 本 _hon_ which means origin. When two characters are combined, the second character often becomes voiced through a process called [_rendaku_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku). H’s become either b’s or p’s. K’s become g’s, etc. The Japanese call their country both Nihon and Nippon, so it is what they call their own country. There are a set of rules where one tends to be used in certain cases where the other tends to be used in other cases. The government currently uses Nippon on stamps, for example. You rarely (if ever?) hear nippongo (Japanese language) although you will hear Nipponjin (Japanese person). ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nip-a-racist-term/660166/43 "2013-06-06T04:58:24Z")
> [@Schism](#): > > Exactly! Which goes to my question if a word can EVER be brought back if it was once considered offensive. I’m not familiar with any past racial or ethnic slurs that are now considered inoffensive terms for that racial/ethnic group, but “gay” was once a derogatory term for homosexual men. “Queer” was also once pretty insulting, and in some contexts still is, but has to an extent been reclaimed. As for “Nip” in particular though, I don’t see any point in bringing it back. And that’s not just because it’s offensive, but because it doesn’t seem useful as anything _but_ a slur. It’s shorter but far less clear than just saying “Japanese”. The term “Nip” has no obvious relationship to the English word “Japanese”, and “nip” is both a fairly common English word with a meaning (pinch/bite) totally unrelated to Japan AND a slangy shortened form of “nipple”. So using “Nip” instead of “Japanese” could lead to confusion in some contexts, and the association with “nipple” makes it likely it would seem insulting even if the past were entirely forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nip-a-racist-term/660166/44 "2013-06-06T05:27:38Z")
It depends. Are we talking about the tip of a breast? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nip-a-racist-term/660166.md?page=2)