Quote:
Originally Posted by Drithe
I want to know the truth. Is this just some stupid PC stunt by silly white people or do the Japanese really care about the name "Japs"?
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It is a hold over from WWII and for many Japanese, especially Japanese-Americans brings back the time of the internments. Even Japanese-American teenagers tend to bristle over that term. At the very least, it would make the person uttering it appear to be a "stupid, white" guy.
Like kike, deigo, wetback, greaser, boy. mick and a few others, these terms go back to a time when a particular race or ethnicity was openly discriminated against and the word was used to denegrate them in public. None of them are acceptable. Jap is not just a shortened version of Japanese.
BTW, be careful who you call Yank. Most Americans are polite enough not to make an issue of it, but there are those who really do not care for it because the British have used it to segregate Americans and not accept them as equals when we are on that side of the pond.