# Why is "Jap" offensive?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 20, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281 "2013-09-20T03:38:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/1 "2013-09-20T03:38:51Z")
Seems to me a shortened form of what they are officially labelled; why is this offensive?
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/2 "2013-09-20T03:48:38Z")
Why are “yid” or “hebe” offensive?
Jap was used in a lot of WWII propaganda with a negative connotation.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/3 "2013-09-20T03:50:10Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/4 "2013-09-20T03:53:16Z")
This is probably better suited to IMHO for now.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/5 "2013-09-20T03:57:43Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/6 "2013-09-20T04:06:25Z")
Chinaman is offensive? Can someone explain the history behind that one? And also the Paki issue?
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### Author:  [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/7 "2013-09-20T04:07:31Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/8 "2013-09-20T04:12:07Z")
> [@IMfez](#):
>
> Chinaman is offensive? Can someone explain the history behind that one? And also the Paki issue?
[Chinaman,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinaman_(term)) from Wiki.
> [@](#):
>
> Chinaman is a contentious English language term that denotes a Chinese man or person, or as a Chinese national, or, in some cases, an indiscriminate term for a person native to geographical East Asia or of perceived East Asian race. Although the term has no negative connotations in older dictionaries,[1][2] and the usage of such parallel compound terms as Englishman, Frenchman and Irishman[3] remain unobjectionable,[4] the term Chinaman is noted as offensive by modern dictionaries. Its derogatory connotations evolved from its use in pejorative contexts regarding the Chinese and other Asians. Usage of the term Chinaman is nowadays strongly discouraged by Asian American organizations,[5][6][7][8] though the term has been used by authors and artisits of Asian descent self-referentially.[9]
I am surprised you were unaware it was offensive. May I ask where you are from?
[Paki](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Paki)
> [@](#):
>
> Paki acquired offensive connotations in the 1960s when used by British tabloids to refer to subjects of former colony states in a derogatory and racist manner. In modern British usage “Paki” is typically a derogatory label used for all South Asians, including Indians, Afghans and Bangladeshis.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/9 "2013-09-20T04:40:46Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> 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.
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.
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/10 "2013-09-20T07:53:32Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/11 "2013-09-20T07:59:12Z")
> [@cckerberos](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/12 "2013-09-20T08:02:35Z")
> [@IMfez](#):
>
> Seems to me a shortened form of what they are officially labelled; why is this offensive?
Words become offensive because of how they are used, not because of how the letters are assembled.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/13 "2013-09-20T09:01:05Z")
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
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/14 "2013-09-20T09:48:11Z")
> [@SanVito](#):
>
> 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.
I think we covered this before and it was found to be offensive in a lot of the Commonwealth.
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/15 "2013-09-20T09:49:34Z")
> [@IMfez](#):
>
> Chinaman is offensive? Can someone explain the history behind that one? And also the Paki issue?
Which is a problem with cricket as there is a specific sort of bowl (throw/pitch/whatever) called “The Chinaman”.
> **[Left-arm unorthodox spin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-arm_unorthodox_spin)**
>
> Deliveries:
> Deliveries:
> Left-arm unorthodox spin, also known as slow left-arm wrist spin, is a type of spin bowling in the sport of cricket. Left-arm unorthodox spin bowlers use wrist spin to spin the ball, and make it deviate, or 'turn' from left to right after pitching. The direction of turn is the same as that of a traditional right-handed off spin bowler, although the ball will usually turn more sharply due to the spin being imparted predominantly by the wrist.
> Some left-arm unorthodox bow...
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/16 "2013-09-20T09:53:50Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> I think we covered this before and it was found to be offensive in a lot of the Commonwealth.
You may be right - I just remember that Americans (and some Pakistanis without connections to the UK) were rather bemused by it.
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### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/17 "2013-09-20T11:27:13Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> I think we covered this before and it was found to be offensive in a lot of the Commonwealth.
It’s considered offensive in Canada, that much I know, but you wouldn’t know it from listening to my in-laws :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/18 "2013-09-20T11:34:24Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> Which is a problem with cricket as there is a specific sort of bowl (throw/pitch/whatever) called “The Chinaman”
Indeed, and you hear reference to Chinaman bowlers. The term you are hunting for is "delivery ".
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/19 "2013-09-20T11:46:07Z")
> [@Teuton](#):
>
> 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.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/20 "2013-09-20T11:58:48Z")
> [@IMfez](#):
>
> Chinaman is offensive? Can someone explain the history behind that one?
I’ve been reading all of Raymond Chandler’s novels. In one (_The High Window_) Sam Spade describes someone thusly:
> [@](#):
>
> He had a sort of dry musty smell, like a fairly clean Chinaman.
Just an observation.
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