"Jap" question?

[Yattaruchan]

Hey all,

Have a question I've been curious about for a while. Is the term "Jap" actually offensive to Japanese people?

I hear people say it is, but I always wondered, is it, or are people just assuming it is. Now, I know Americans used it to refer to the Japanese in WWII. Not really sure how slanderous it was considered back then, since it was just a shortened, quick way to refer to "Japanese". It's not a completely different word that was intended for slander/offense.

So, to my more direct point. If I was for example to, say, talk about a Japanese version of a video game. Would me refering to it as a "JAP" version be considered offensive?

Personally, I don't see why it should be seen as offensive. Just a quick way of refering to Japanese things.

So yeah. I'm curious about people's opinions hear.

[erilaz]

I personally would avoid using it, because of the stigma that got attached to the word due to anti-Japanese propaganda during World War II. I'm not Japanese myself, but it appears that most Japanese people (particularly those who live in English-speaking countries or at least speak English) do indeed find it offensive. Here are a couple of forum discussions that will give you some idea of the range of people's sentiments in this regard:

http://www.jref.com/forum/threads/where ... ive.37658/
http://english.stackexchange.com/questi ... thnic-slur

And a YouTube video (with its array of comments in both English and Japanese), which addresses your more specific question:

[Yattaruchan]

Thanks for the reply. Really appreciate it.

It's a pity some people still feel that way about the term.