# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/21 "2013-09-20T12:07:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> 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 gather it was also used to indicate someone Gypping you, or Welshing on a deal, or just generally being unreliable; “don’t Jap out on us!”
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/22 "2013-09-20T12:09:31Z")
> [@IMfez](#):
>
> Seems to me a shortened form of what they are officially labelled; why is this offensive?
You could say the same for pretty much any similarly-derived term. For example, “nigger” is just a slightly corrupted form of the original term “negro,” which in turn is derived from the latin word for the color black. And yet it’s regarded as the gold standard for offensiveness in racial epithets.
I recall from just a few years ago a debate on a motorcycle-related discussion board in which a gentleman with some Japanese heritage suggested that folks ought to refrain from using the term “Jap bike” to refer to motorcycles made by Japanese manufacturers. There was a lot of back-and-forth on that, with some people not understanding what the big deal was.
It wasn’t always an offensive term. Consider the story of [Boondocks Road.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap_Road) In 1905 it was officially christened Jap Road to honor the Japanese family who had just settled there. The fight to change the name to something else began in 1993; residents who lived on the road (including some Japanese descendants) insisted the name wasn’t racist, but the fight wouldn’t go away. 11 years later, the roads’ residents voted to rename it Boondocks Road after a local restaurant. Several unoffensive Japanese names had been considered and rejected, purportedly because residents were annoyed at outsiders’ accusations that they were racists for supporting the original Jap Road name.
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### Author:  [@zelskid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelskid)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/23 "2013-09-20T12:28:48Z")
Canadian bigots like Paki term. To be unbigoted, refer to nationalities by the name they prefer. Think of the evolution of names for Afro-Americans. Their own first organization, the NAACP contained the word colored. As a boy, I heard blacks referred to themselves as colored.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/24 "2013-09-20T13:11:36Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#):
>
> I gather it was also used to indicate someone Gypping you, or Welshing on a deal, or just generally being unreliable; “don’t Jap out on us!”
Not that I ever heard (and I’ve never heard the phrase “don’t Jap out on us.”) “To Jap” specifically means to attack sneakily. In high school, kids would come up behind you and punch you in the back, and exclaim gleefully “Japped!”
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/25 "2013-09-20T13:22:05Z")
> [@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.
IJA, not JIA, but other than that, I agree. In American propaganda, ‘Japs’ were portrayed as short, bucktoothed men with thick round eyeglasses.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/26 "2013-09-20T13:30:27Z")
> [@amanset](#):
>
> Which is a problem with cricket as there is a specific sort of bowl (throw/pitch/whatever) called “The Chinaman”.
>
> [Left-arm unorthodox spin - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-arm_unorthodox_spin)
And we have a football team called the Redskins, but I wouldn’t go calling native americans that!
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/27 "2013-09-20T13:56:17Z")
I don’t exactly like being called “Paki” and I’m American. Anything can be offensive depending on how it is used. My friend once referred to the “Happy Paki” store down the street. I just looked at her. I still don’t understand why it’s necessary to call it that - why not just say the convenience store or the gas station?
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/28 "2013-09-20T14:08:14Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> In American propaganda, ‘Japs’ were portrayed as short, bucktoothed men with thick round eyeglasses.
Or as [bucktooth rats with thick round eyeglasses.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alaska_Death_Trap.jpg)
A google search reveals [lots of WW2 anti-Jap posters.](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1015&bih=822&q=jap+poster&oq=jap+poster&gs_l=img.3...3000.4047.0.4172.10.6.0.4.0.0.125.610.4j2.6.0....0...1ac.1.27.img..5.5.500.2Y4NwEMsSj0)
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/29 "2013-09-20T14:12:47Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> And we have a football team called the Redskins, but I wouldn’t go calling native americans that!
[It’s coming.](http://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/nepean-redskins-football-team-to-change-name-after-racism-allegations-1.1461857)
> [@](#):
>
> An Ottawa amateur football club – the Nepean Redskins – is changing its name and logo under mounting pressure from critics who say it’s a racist reference to aboriginals.
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/30 "2013-09-20T14:19:15Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> I don’t exactly like being called “Paki” and I’m American. Anything can be offensive depending on how it is used. My friend once referred to the “Happy Paki” store down the street. I just looked at her. I still don’t understand why it’s necessary to call it that - why not just say the convenience store or the gas station?
I believe that’s actually a different word with a different etymology. A “packie” is a Boston term that is short for a “package store,” which is another term for a liquor store. No racism involved.
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### Author:  [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/31 "2013-09-20T14:19:59Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> IJA, not JIA, but other than that, I agree. In American propaganda, ‘Japs’ were portrayed as short, bucktoothed men with thick round eyeglasses.
Thanks for the correction.
I don’t think it is stressed how much hatred was packed into the word Jap. Besides their attacking us and the propaganda, well, the more you learn about Japanese atrocities during the war, the more you ought to get up, take a walk and think about something else, like, forever. Many thousands of our boys died fighting them, after which we firebombed their cities and then nuked them- twice. Once the news of that got home, people threw parades to celebrate. Then, their kids starved and Americans mostly didn’t care.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/32 "2013-09-20T14:20:40Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> My friend once referred to the “Happy Paki” store down the street.
In MA a “packy” is a package/liquor store, so people often make a packy run. It could easily cause problems if unfamiliar with the term in the wrong crowd.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/33 "2013-09-20T14:38:25Z")
> [@robby](#):
>
> I believe that’s actually a different word with a different etymology. A “packie” is a Boston term that is short for a “package store,” which is another term for a liquor store. No racism involved.
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> In MA a “packy” is a package/liquor store, so people often make a packy run. It could easily cause problems if unfamiliar with the term in the wrong crowd.
Thank you both for this, so next time I go to Mass I won’t make a fool out of myself. In the case of my friend, she was definitely talking the other way:
“…the little indian man at the happy paki store…”
Yeah. In her defense, she never said it again. She can be a bit blunt, and I am SO American people sometimes don’t put it together, that saying things about Indians/Pakistanis around me might not be the right environment.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/34 "2013-09-20T15:01:02Z")
Here are a few older threads that address the same question. Check back if you have any further questions.
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=446375&highlight=Japanese+offensive](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=446375&highlight=Japanese+offensive)
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7435959](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7435959)
> **[Jap and other 'racial' slurs](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=133115)**
>
> If I am Japanese and want to use the the Jap as my nickname… is there anything wrong with it?.. Same goes for all the other ‘racial’ terms. To me… it makes no differnce… as long as they are not saying the term Jap racially against me I do not...
> **[Jap and other 'racial' slurs](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=133115)**
>
> If I am Japanese and want to use the the Jap as my nickname… is there anything wrong with it?.. Same goes for all the other ‘racial’ terms. To me… it makes no differnce… as long as they are not saying the term Jap racially against me I do not...
Don’t get these confused with the threads about the phrase “Jewish American Princess.”
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/35 "2013-09-20T15:35:02Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> Thank you both for this, so next time I go to Mass I won’t make a fool out of myself. In the case of my friend, she was definitely talking the other way:
>
> “…the little indian man at the happy paki store…”
>
> Yeah. In her defense, she never said it again. She can be a bit blunt, and I am SO American people sometimes don’t put it together, that saying things about Indians/Pakistanis around me might not be the right environment.
Blimey, that would get her a roasting here. It was common parlance when I was growing up in the 70s. We had an influx of South Asians, including Indians who were thrown out of Idi Amin’s Uganda, and many of them took over the small convenience stores we have on street corners. The shops became known as ‘Paki shops’. That term really is beyond the pale now.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/36 "2013-09-20T16:00:15Z")
I think the most offensive racial term I’ve ever heard was when I was arguing back in high school with a rather ignorant Pakistani student about whether or not he was a Pakistani (my view), or get this, his preferred term was:
Pakistanian (pronounced “Pak-ih-stain-ian”)
He was really mad and agitated that I was insisting that the proper term for people from Pakistan is Pakistani in English, not Pakistanian, and I eventually got kind of offended and more than a little annoyed when he told me I was being a racist and ignorant.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/37 "2013-09-20T16:05:45Z")
Was it offensive or just wrong? I mean, if you start calling me an Americainian, I would laugh at you, but I wouldn’t really be offended.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/38 "2013-09-20T16:08:22Z")
You actually told a citizen of Pakistan that he was using the wrong term for people from his own country? :eek:
Thats like correcting a black person for referring to themselves as African-American. 😛 A black person has every right to use any term they want for their own ethnic group.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/39 "2013-09-20T16:19:10Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> You actually told a citizen of Pakistan that he was using the wrong term for people from his own country? :eek:
Granted, it’s a rare situation. But it is possible for a person from X country to be wrong about the term used for people from his or her own country. I have never ever heard anyone say “Pakistanian,” not even Pakistanis or Pakistani sources of information.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jap-offensive/669281/40 "2013-09-20T16:20:47Z")
Jap is a generational thing. I have no problem using it in context to their WWII. I have relatives that fought them. I know the atrocities their soldiers committed. The captured women they put in their soldiers brothels. Japs and Nazis are grouped together forever. They earned that title by their own deeds.
Modern day, I certainly use German or Japanese. But if I’m specifically discussing WWII they are japs and Nazis. Himmler and Goering are Nazis. Homma is a Jap convicted of war crimes just like Goering. But these terms only apply to the WWII governments and the soldiers that fought my father’s generation. I have uncles that fought in the Pacific.
> **[Bataan Death March](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March)**
>
> The Bataan Death March\[a\] was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of around 72,000 to 78,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war (POW) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp O'Donnell via San Fernando.
> The transfer began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. The total distance marched from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to various camps was 65 miles...
> [@](#):
>
> In December 1943, (General) Masaharu Homma was selected as the minister of information for the incoming prime minister, Kuniaki Koiso. In September 1945, he was arrested by Allied troops, and indicted for war crimes.[21] Homma was charged with 43 different counts of crimes against humanity.[22] The court found that Homma had permitted his troops to commit “brutal atrocities and other high crimes”.[23] The general, who had been absorbed in his efforts to capture Corregidor after the fall of Bataan, claimed in his defense that he remained ignorant of the high death toll of the death march until two months after the event.[24] On February 26, 1946, he was sentenced to death by firing squad. He was executed on April 3, 1946, outside Manila
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