# Why is 'Jap' demeaning and 'Brit' is not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453 "2003-05-25T21:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/1 "2003-05-25T21:24:32Z")
I think it’s all in the subject liine. They’re both just contractions. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/2 "2003-05-25T21:32:03Z")
Probabl;y irrelevant, but the Japanese don’t call it Japan, so the abbreviations are not exactly equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/3 "2003-05-25T21:33:06Z")
However, ‘Nip’ is yet worse, I think. ---
**Author:** ![swami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@swami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swami)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/4 "2003-05-25T21:34:46Z")
For the same reason that “Paki” is demeaning. If the word (or sound or whatever) has a history of being used in a demeaning way then people will see it in that light. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/5 "2003-05-25T21:38:47Z")
Is Brit used in demeaning ways? Sure. Is it only used in demeaning ways? No. Is Jap used in demeaning ways? Yes. Is it only used in demeaning ways? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/6 "2003-05-25T21:53:37Z")
I’m not sure how the Japanese feel about it; we have a large Japanese oil company here named Japoil. And I’ll add that when I do hear ‘Jap’ used, while it certainly marks the speaker as non—PC, it is used not to demean but to describe - a Jap car, etc. So, no, in my experience it is rarely used in demeaning ways. It nevertheless _is_ commonly thought of as demeaning. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/7 "2003-05-25T22:01:23Z")
I didn’t know “Paki” was demeaning. I guess we just don’t use it over here. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/8 "2003-05-25T22:11:02Z")
Yes, Cardinal ‘Paki’ is **very** demeaning and can also mean anyone from the Indian sub-continent. I have heard a few Americans use it simply because they assume that Pakistan has the same contraction as, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, etc. (i.e. Afghan, Uzbek, etc.) but in the UK especially it is pretty much on par with the n- word. ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/9 "2003-05-25T22:18:09Z")
A word becomes a slur due to its usage. It’s likely there would be nothing wrong with the shortened version of Japanese without its history. “Brit” as far as I know, does not have a long, widespread history of being derogatory ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/10 "2003-05-25T22:27:43Z")
I’ve often heard Australian cricket commentators use the word with no derogatory undertones. IMO it is only, as Swami says, the history of the word being used, that makes the word demeaning in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/11 "2003-05-25T22:32:33Z")
Well, for a start, we Brits do have that self-deprecating streak. More seriously, the obvious commonality between “Jap” and “Paki”, at least in the UK, is that they’ve primarily (only?) been used by English speakers trying to stereotype the groups in question. The interesting question is therefore surely what’s been the usage of “Brit” in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/12 "2003-05-25T22:40:17Z")
Was ‘Jap’ demeaning before WWII? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/13 "2003-05-25T22:59:13Z")
The first line of what **aahala** said. I don’t remember who said this, but it demonstrates the same principle: _“Why do you call a guy from Texas ‘Tex’, but you don’t call a guy from Florida ‘Flo’?”_ ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/14 "2003-05-26T00:00:00Z")
I’ve always considered “Brit” to be minorly derogatory. It might be okay to say in a joke, but I’d never say it to a British person’s face. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/15 "2003-05-26T00:44:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Was ‘Jap’ demeaning before WWII? You bet it was. Cited as a negative stereotype in the mid-late 1800’s. But not in any way common the way it would be after WWII. It was more of a put-down demeaning orientals in general. It seems to have started life among sailors in the Far East. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/16 "2003-05-26T00:55:15Z")
> [@](#): > > The interesting question is therefore surely what’s been the usage of “Brit” in the past. Brit, as a shortening of British, doesn’t even appear in print until 1901, and then not in a demeaning usage. It wasn’t used in a negative way until the 1970’s in the US. And even then it was mild. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/17 "2003-05-26T01:20:29Z")
I have the sinking feeling that it’s because the Japanese aren’t “white.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/18 "2003-05-26T01:48:49Z")
:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/19 "2003-05-26T03:26:43Z")
Related … does anyone know where that hideous term “Gook” came from, to describe Vietnamese? I’d guess it was started by soldiers, but why? I heard a guy at work use it who was in the Vietnam war; I can barely speak to him now. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453/20 "2003-05-26T03:36:03Z")
Aw, c’mon, Ellen. Speak to him all the time. But be sure to preface every comment to him with, “You bigot.” Maybe then he’ll get the message. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-demeaning-and-brit-is-not/177453.md?page=2)