I think in addition to the associational issues, it’s generally bad form to refer to people in the noun form rather than adjective form. A Japanese person has Japanese as one aspect of their greater whole whereas a Jap is singularly and wholly defined by that single aspect.
You’re a genius!
Sorry. Person of Ingenuity.
It is not the word, it is the intent behind it when used.
Huh? The people most prone to using slurs that I’ve met have been vets who would use them for the people they fought (usu. Vietnam vets, but I’ve heard some interesting terms for Middle Easterners from returning Iraq vets too). I’m not at all surprised that Michener might use it.
Readsome of the anti-Japanese literature of World War II and you’ll have your answer.
As was stated above, “nigger” was once a perfectly acceptable term, but not now.
I’m surprised people still use the word “gyp” and the expression “jew down the price.”
No offense taken
Not to mention that had her parents been “Viet Cong” they would t have called themselves that since the term was an insult by the Southern Vietnamese government and the group was actually called the NLF(National Liberation Front).