Why is "Jap" offensive?

Seems to me a shortened form of what they are officially labelled; why is this offensive?

Why are “yid” or “hebe” offensive?

Jap was used in a lot of WWII propaganda with a negative connotation.

It originally wasn’t offensive. It was mostly the way that it was used in a negative manner in World War II that turned it into a negative racial slur.

This is probably better suited to IMHO for now.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

There is no particular logic to which forms of words referring to a nationality are offensive. It depends on history and how the words have been used in the past. Irishman and Frenchman are OK; Chinaman is offensive. Brit and Yank are not particularly offensive; Jap and Paki are. You simply can’t make a general rule about these things.

Chinaman is offensive? Can someone explain the history behind that one? And also the Paki issue?

During the war, ‘Japs’ were depicted as bugs or evil little animals in American propaganda. They were said to have green blood and dehumanized in other ways. Also, many members of the JIA at the time committed dastardly, heinous war crimes. It is a loaded word that basically isn’t fair these days.

Chinaman, from Wiki.

I am surprised you were unaware it was offensive. May I ask where you are from?

Paki

There was also the verb “to Jap” someone, meaning to sneakily take them by surprise or blindside them, as at Pearl Harbor. I used to hear it when I was a kid in the 1950s, but it seems to have died out now.

I know Paki is certainly derogatory in British English, but my interactions with Pakistani-Americans has made me assume that it wasn’t considered offensive here. Is that wrong?

My understanding is that you are right - it’s only offensive in the UK. Where it is* very* offensive. Partly because of how it was used in the passed (akin to nigger) and partly because it has traditionally been used to refer to anyone of south asian appearance, not just Pakistanis.

Words become offensive because of how they are used, not because of how the letters are assembled.

To us Japanese here in Hawaii, Jap ain’t a pejorative. Unless you use it as one and try to be insulting. We also have no problem with being called Oriental since being called Asiatic implies being Chinese. The term Japs, however, implies the Japanese WWII military and should never be applied to us, the Issei, Nisei, and Sansei. :o

I think we covered this before and it was found to be offensive in a lot of the Commonwealth.

Which is a problem with cricket as there is a specific sort of bowl (throw/pitch/whatever) called “The Chinaman”.

You may be right - I just remember that Americans (and some Pakistanis without connections to the UK) were rather bemused by it.

It’s considered offensive in Canada, that much I know, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to my in-laws :rolleyes:

Indeed, and you hear reference to Chinaman bowlers. The term you are hunting for is "delivery ".

I’ve been out of the UK for too long. :smack:

ETA:
The bit in brackets was for the foreign types. You know, the uncivilised places where they don’t play the sport.

I’ve been reading all of Raymond Chandler’s novels. In one (The High Window) Sam Spade describes someone thusly:

Just an observation.