# "Jap" Offensive/inoffensive Term. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628 "2007-12-03T05:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/61 "2007-12-05T18:36:29Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] Definitely offensive. (Daughter of Japanese man interned in WWII, in the British Columbia interior) [/QUOTE] Not to detour too much off the topic, but **“interned in WWII, in the British Columbia interior”???** I was under the impression that this lunacy was in place only in the USA. Did it extend to Canada as well? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/62 "2007-12-05T19:13:33Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine] Not to detour too much off the topic, but **“interned in WWII, in the British Columbia interior”???** I was under the impression that this lunacy was in place only in the USA. Did it extend to Canada as well? [/QUOTE] When I was in high school it was the only thing we learned about World War II. It was an issue for decades afterwards, and not until the 1980s did the government finally pay some of the victims back for the property that had been stolen from them (their houses were taken away, too, and usually not given back.) ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/63 "2007-12-05T20:06:43Z")
[This page](http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/canadianhistory/camps/internment1.html) provides a brief summary of the plight of Japanese Canadians during (and after) World War II. Several years ago, Lynn Johnston touched on the topic when her _For Better or For Worse_ comic strip presented the story of the Enjos, a family whose children Brian and Dawn had befriended Michael and Elizabeth of the feature’s central Patterson clan. ---
**Author:** ![papaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@papaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papaw)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/64 "2007-12-06T07:16:11Z")
Recently a country road near Port Arthur, Texas was in the local news because someone thought the name should be changed. It was Jap road. IIRC the locals, including some of Japanese descent, argued successfully for NOT changing the name. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/65 "2007-12-06T12:39:15Z")
Ah, Tejas. Unrelatedly, I have an ex who lived near, I shit you not, French Hussey Rd. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a French Canadian area, either. Good ol’ Noveau Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/66 "2007-12-06T13:10:13Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] See, to me, I understand there’s baggage there because.. well, because there is. But sixty years after the war, I think it’s time we reclaimed a useful abbreviation. “Jap” is no worse, inherently, than “Texmex” or what-have-you. Not on a par with “chink” or “gook”, IMHO. That is to say, it is but it SHOULDN’T be. Not in 2007. [/QUOTE] In principle I agree. The problem is that these things don’t go away that fast. I doubt in 100 years time you’ll be able to say Paki in the UK or Ireland without causing offence and that is only another abbreviation is it not? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/67 "2007-12-06T18:57:19Z")
Paki Bonner? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/68 "2007-12-06T20:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=papaw] Recently a country road near Port Arthur, Texas was in the local news because someone thought the name should be changed. It was Jap road. [/QUOTE] There’s a [Jap Tucker Road](http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=3307+Jap+Tucker+Road&city=Plant+City&state=FL&zipcode=33566&country=US&cid=lfmaplink) in Plant City, Florida. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/69 "2007-12-06T22:35:22Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] There’s a [Jap Tucker Road](http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=3307+Jap+Tucker+Road&city=Plant+City&state=FL&zipcode=33566&country=US&cid=lfmaplink) in Plant City, Florida. [/QUOTE] Is it lined with sushi bars? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/70 "2007-12-07T13:08:12Z")
A slight hijack… I was mildly surprised when my Malaysian father-in-law (of Indian descent, as is about 15% of the population there) used the word “Chinaman”. (About 20% of Malaysia’s population is of Chinese descent.) He is not racist at all. Apparently, that’s an acceptable term in Malaysia – it sure isn’t in the U.S.! ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/71 "2007-12-09T10:52:58Z")
Well, I asked my Japanese friend if she thought “Jap” was considered offensive. She said that she did find it offensive. She said that even when she first heard the term “Jap Pumpkin” she was offended. However she said that her teenage children do not consider the term Jap offensive. So I suppose that first generation Japanese find it offensive in Australia, though second generation Japanese do not apply the connotations that arose from the war. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/72 "2007-12-09T15:54:36Z")
I think the answer to the OP is the same as for any ‘Is term X offensive?’ question. It’s offensive if, among those whom it might offend, there is consensus that it is offensive and they prefer others not to use it. Otherwise, no. I visited Japan and spent a lot of time with native Japanese. So far as I could tell, they couldn’t care less about the term ‘Japs’ and often used it themselves. But that’s just my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/73 "2007-12-09T20:35:06Z")
**ianzin** , sure they don’t. But it has a different meaning in the US and Canada. That’s like saying that “gaijin” is inoffensive because Americans in America aren’t offended by it and use it themselves. It may actually be inoffensive in Japan too, but my point is that if it weren’t, that couldn’t be ignored/flaunted by saying, “Well, the ‘same’ people don’t mind it in America!” ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/74 "2009-05-04T19:49:35Z")
Hmmm… Didn’t Nixon, in the one of the minor kerfuffles from the watergate tapes, refer to Sen. Daniel Inouye as “the little Jap”? Not so offensve that Trudeau got a dig in a Doonebury strip where the reporters are fighting to get to the senators on the Watergate committee. One reporter says “the little Jap is mine!” I hadn’t realized “Chinaman” was offensive here in Canada. In fact, IIRC it was the Sydney olympics where one elderly commentator said something about a Canadian of Chinese extraction, that “the chinaman was an excellent swimmer.” After the commercial break he came on with a grovelling rambling apology; “I apologize for the term, I meant no disrespect, I just meant to say or should have said ‘of chinese origin’, in way reflects the views of the CBC, etc…” Up until then I hadn’t heard of Chinaman as anything but a really anachronistic term, along the lines of “negress” or “hottentot”. (Which are also probably racist). Of course, as a kid I remember having a golliwog too. Those were the days… Meanwhile the Japs in Canada were interred longer; and even as late as 1949 were not allowed to return to the west coast and were still having their property sold out by government agents at pennies on the dollar. Some white fishermen got some really cheap boats… ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/75 "2009-05-04T20:14:47Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Yeah, I found that comment to be bizarrely anachronistic. Wasn’t there a line in _Back to the Future_ about that? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/76 "2009-05-04T20:31:28Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Wasn’t there a line in _Back to the Future_ about that? Yup. The Doc says “No wonder this part’s broken, it was made in Japan!” Marty says “What are you talking about? All the best stuff is made in Japan.” ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/77 "2009-05-04T20:42:41Z")
I’m from Toronto, and the use of the term “Jap” as an abbreviation (insulting or not) for Japanese people has just about died out here - hearing “Jap” in conversation it nearly always refers to “Jewish-American Princess”. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/78 "2009-05-04T21:07:05Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > I’ve always understood it as a racist term, coming from the US. I wish it weren’t however, the same way I wish “Paki” weren’t racist. We have so many abbreviations for things, yet I can’t think of a single ethnicity that people abbreviate. I was trying to think if there were non-offensive nationality shortenings, and came up with “Aussie.” But that’s it. > [@Bosstone](#): > > Japanese pop music is ubiquitously referred to as J-pop among fans in the US, FWIW. When I was living in Japan, I’d find sections in music stores labeled J-pop, J-rock, J-indie… Presumably American fans of Japanese bands picked up on the Japanese convention, rather than vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/79 "2009-05-04T21:20:34Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I was trying to think if there were non-offensive nationality shortenings, and came up with “Aussie.” But that’s it. Brit is usually pretty neutral too. > [@](#): > > When I was living in Japan, I’d find sections in music stores labeled J-pop, J-rock, J-indie… Presumably American fans of Japanese bands picked up on the Japanese convention, rather than vice versa. AFAIK it is a Japanese coined term. Anyway, one thing I have noticed about Jap is that even when it is offensive it’s not as IMMEDIATELY offensive as some other words since it’s an obvious abbreviation. When I speak before thinking I have used “Jap” once or twice, but the reactions aren’t “holy shit, what did you just say!?” So much as “um… you DO know that’s considered offensive, right?” (Which then causes me to facepalm and say “er… yes, whoops, sorry. I wasn’t thinking about that.”) So at least you don’t have to worry about being run out of town like you would if you used most racist words that aren’t just obvious abbreviations of the proper name. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628/80 "2009-05-04T21:30:26Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > We do our printing in Singapore, and I sometimes have to remind our Singapore staff to not use “Jap” as an abbreviation in emails, especially ones which go back to our US head office, with the Japanese staff there. > > We use “JPN” as an abbreviation internally. It’s been at least 20 years now that the record-collectors’ periodical Goldmine has required its advertisers to use JPN instead of JAP to describe records made in Japan. Some readers complained that it was offensive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jap-offensive-inoffensive-term/428628.md?page=5)