"Say the word Jap near me and i'll knock yer teeth in"

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[–]NastyWetSmear 6 insightful - 3 fun6 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

I've never understood the hatred towards shortening your country of origin, race or religion. Jap, Paki, Aussie, Brit, Scot, Fin, Jew. It's just the short version of the primary word: Japanese, Pakistani, Australian, British, Scottish, Finnish, Jewish.

I could understand words that aren't the shortening of that, like Coon, Chink, Yank, Spud, Spic. They might contain part of the root word, but they aren't, so they have a more definitive origin outside simply "Your country, but short" and separate meaning, like: "I don't like Mexicans, so I'm going to call you a Spic instead, which is considered a slur and is clearly being used in that manner."

Maybe it's because, in Australia, we shorten everything without malice.

"G'day, Dick. Ya'right?"
"Good day, Richard. Is everything alright?"

If we're calling you "Jap", it's not because we hate the Japanese so much that we refuse to use the "Anese" section of their name, it's because it's faster to say "Jap" and sounds more friendly, familiar and close. Like calling us "Aussies" rather than spending the extra seconds to say "Tralians".

[–]Countach_3D 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

Yes, all words are contextually dependent and can be interpreted radically differently in other countries or cultures.

Fanny is another word that's taken entirely differently outside the U.S., for example.

Jap is considered a racial slur in North America due to the deeply negative connotation it acquired during WWII.

Outside the U.S. it is benign. I doubt a Japanese expat in Sydney would have any problem with it.

I don't like the Japanese, so I'm going to call you a Jap, which is clearly being used as a slur

You've hit the nail on the head.

Paki is almost the exact opposite case - them's definitely "fighting words" in much of the English-speaking world but due to the relatively paltry Pakistani-American population few Americans realize there's anything offensive about it.

[–]ClassroomPast6178 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Paki is almost the exact opposite case - them's definitely "fighting words" in much of the English-speaking world but due to the relatively paltry Pakistani-American population few Americans realize there's anything offensive about it.

Paki was used against anyone Asian (in the non-US definition of Asian, meaning someone from or with ties to the Indian subcontinent) regardless of whether they were from Pakistan, India (which is where my father’s family is originally from, with a bit of Portuguese and Burmese), Bangladesh or just slightly darker complexion such as the Russian Konstatin Kissin, who says that he was frequently called a Paki despite being a Russian/Ukrainian Jew.

My mother who was White English, came in for especially vile abuse when she was out with me and my siblings.

It is much better now, although I’ve had black people call me a paki a couple of times, and my brother had someone shout it at him from a passing van (thankfully he wasn’t with his children at the time).