Joke insult in Japanese?
 

Alright, so one night with my Japanese teacher,
my friend and I are going on reading the Japanese text
and my friend mixes up 「る」 and 「ろ」,
so I say, "Hah, you're such a Polack!"
And then it hit me, is there an equivalent in Japanese?
So I asked him and he said, while he was in Japan,
only with his closest friends, you could joke around
and instead of calling someone a Polack, they would use...
Korean. As in, "Ah, you're such a Korean!"
Is that true?

No. There is no tension between Poland and the US, so it's a dumb joke based on an outdated stereotype. Most Americans have never met a real Polish person, and if they did, they wouldn't say something like that.

Up until the most recent generation there has been high tensions between Koreans and Japanese, but at the same time, many Koreans live in Japan (often 2nd or 3rd generation).

To make a long story short, it's a racist joke that is reserved for your friend's "closest friends" but not one that I have ever heard or would expect to hear out of the mouth of any of my Japanese friends. If someone says something stupid, you call them "baka" not "korean".

I cannot believe your teacher said that. No educated Japanese (or really any Japanese) would say "Ah, you're such a Korean" in that kind of a situation.

US people never meeting Polish people...
Uhh, come to Chicago.
List of cities with highest Polish populations:
1 - Warsaw, Poland
2 - Chicago, IL, US
Yeah, I go down the street hearing Polish all the time, haha.
And around here, they're just jokes that've stuck.
Even Polish people use them (the ones I hang out with at least).

That is one I have certainly never heard. I seriously doubt that most anyone would associate "Korean" with a joke insult either. They`d probably just respond with "No, I`m not Korean."

There was a bit of a hit with something along those lines (欧米か？) from a stand up comedy routine. I can`t really imagine anyone using it outside of imitation though.

Go ahead and make make fun of Polish people if you want, but as Nagoyankee said, that isn't a joke Japanese people use, so no one would laugh in Japan if you said it.

No, no, no.
It's not used as an insult to Polish people
really anymore. It's just used now as a
general term for someone doing something
stupid.
But thanks for clearing it up for me, that's
why I asked the question. (^_^)

But then, what kind of jokes and stuff is funny in Japan.
'Cause I know I LOVE insult comics,
like Lisa Lampanelli, Sarah Silverman, etc.

still where all of this came from ? I am polish and i feel kinda offended..

Before blonde jokes were blonde jokes, they were Pollack jokes. It was probably from a very old stereotype that doesn't even exist anymore (in the US...except apparently in Chicago.)

When I lived in Japan, I heard a kinds of sayings and jokes about the Chinese. I also heard words like Sankokujin. This stuff is evertywhere in the world. I've heard guatemalans poke fun at Mexicans. Polock (and other euro jokes) stem from stereotypes from world war II.

Heres a good/stupid multilingual joke: Did you know shrimp have special vitamins? Vitamin AB (ebi).

Snakokujin?

What drink is made with three vegetables? Mitsuya Cider!

Wrong again! You wrote this before I edited my post and fixed the spelling, which was no more that 20 seconds after the first posting. slow down, buddy.

no one would think of sankokujin as a joke. and very few pl would actually use the word, at least not intelligent ppl. but then again we do have out beloved soft-spoken mayor ishihara who have used it on some occasions, which sort of proves my point with only intelligent ppl.

stay away from negative words if u r not exactly sure of the meaning, that's my advice.

Haha! You're killing me!

Here in Canada, it's mainly older people who make racist jokes, and they don't really say them around younger people (if they know best). But they are all Euro-based jokes, and it's not hard to figure out why that is.

Your reading comprehension and maturity are stunted. I didn'y say "sankokujin" was a joke. If you read the thread, you would see that the jist turned from jokes to racial slurs and stereotypes. I know what it means, but I didn't say it was appropriate. An adult should be able to discuss a word without your being offended.

dear paul,

it is not every day i get love letters of that calibre, so it is an honour to send this to u with all my love.

the title of the thread is "joke insult in japanese" and u wrote:
pls forgive me for assuming that u thought 三国人 was sometimes used as a joke or an insulting joke just based on the fact that u wrote something about jokes about chinese and then, in the following sentence, mentioning 三国人, a derogative word for chinese or korean, this in addition to the thread title.

i also like to take the time to thank u for the kind words, i will treasure them for a long time. pls take this as a token of my love.

ps. isn't the pronunciation "sangokujin"?

Well, you obviously didn't read the last post, or your reading comprehension is lacking. The "kind words" and "treasure them" comment displays your projecting your own emotions onto my post. I really didn't write anything so insulting to you. I never said it was a joke. The title of the thread is not necessarlly indicative of individual posts or the evolution of the conversation. Again, please go back to the post and the one previous to it and re-read. You will discover there is a context. Or maybe you won't see the context.

Your smarmy, condescening tone was week. You obviously were reacting to my first answer to you, but your lack of understanding and pompous comments deserved it. Before you decide to preach, please be sure you understand what was said in the first place. Your expression of how offended you were is really nothing more than a method of speech control. But, people are free to discuss topics that you don't approve of.

In today's South Korea, the blond/Polish joke equivalent will likely be: You're like those guys from Jeolla-do*.

*People living in SW South Korea. A huge chunk of Zainichi Kankokujin are historically hailed from Jeolla-do.

I've heard "Jew" thrown about as an adjective/metaphor for being stingy (tight/strict with money)...

Like "Don't be such a Jew!"

= "Don't be so tight/stingy"

There are books compiling lists of "Pollock Jokes" in Texas, but they are usually sold at swap meets and antique car clubs, where basically everyone there is at least retirement age. I've seen such books in my grandparents' house, but they are German and grew up speaking German, so they are actually familiar with Polish people (and likely Polish stereotypes).

You shouldn't be offended, SeeD. Polish people are treated just like any other white person in the US nowadays. There are Irish jokes up the wazoo, but Irish people tend not to be offended, and frequently participate in retellings. :)

Sincerely,
A Hiberno-scots-aleman-anglo-franco-saxon

This is hilarious. I used to a self-written joke to my friends when I lived in Kanagawa that punned on ありがとう and 蟻が象. I always got the response "サムイーー！！" :)

So far we have evidence that three people misread your comment about sankokujin as being a joke. Perhaps your writing should mature rather than our reading comprehension?

Additionally, you seem not to know what the word "maturity" means, as someone responded quite maturely to your comments and you labeled them as immature. In the psychological world, this is called "projection."