Can I Say "Gook" Too?

[GuyJean]

I know we've been through this before, but I'm not sure what the outcome was.

I, personally, would like to have some of the natives contribute to this board. But if we're offending them because we appear racist, I don't think they'd participate.

Would we use "nigger" on a African-based forum for foreigners? Or "gook" on a Vietnam-based, foreign forum?

My wife says "jap" IS offensive to her, but that it's not that bad.. I don't hear many Japanese Americans calling each other 'japs'. I'm curious of what others think.

I know the term 'gaijin' is offensive to some, but it doesn't bother me at all.

GJ

[Crispy]

Do you want to risk being punched in the face? I don't know abouty y'all but I don't want to walk around saying things that I KNOW are going to piss off at least some people who hear it.

[Alcazar]

In south Africa, blacks used to be called 'Kaffirs', pronounced 'kaffas'. Haven't you seen Lethal Weapon with the South Africans?

http://www.mathabane.com/kaffir-dust.htm

{The word "Kaffir" is of Arabic origin. It means "infidel." In South Africa it is used pejoratively by whites to refer to blacks. It is the equivalent of the word "nigger."}


Alcazar

[cstaylor]

It's like Gaishukiduki calls me "Wigga"

Again, I think that's totally different. 'Wigga', as far as I know, has no reference to someone's race. Doesn't it come from 'Wigging out', or being spastic?

No. Replacing the 'N' with a 'W'. Think Vanilla Ice.

[vince]

I don't hear many Japanese Americans calling each other 'japs'

They call each other "nigga" (not nigger) - Nihonmachi street fair this weekend - you'll see.

[GuyJean]

In south Africa, blacks used to be called 'Kaffirs', pronounced 'kaffas'.

Yeah. South Africa was a bad example because of it's unique... 'dynamics'.

I don't know.. WTF. Call anybody anything you like.. 'Jap' just rubs me the wrong way.

Most gaijin using the 'j' word are living in 'j' country, makin' easy 'j' money, and fucking fine 'j' women. It seems like some respect could be given to how the native Japanese feel about their 'label'.. But who cares, right.. Wa the fuck am I on about?

GJ

[GuyJean]

No. Replacing the 'N' with a 'W'. Think Vanilla Ice.

Wouldn't that be 'Vigga'?

I didn't know you were so in tune with urban culture, CS.

GJ

[Taro Toporific]

No. Replacing the 'N' with a 'W'. Think Vanilla Ice.

Wouldn't that be 'Vigga'?

Nah, in Japanese "Vigga" would be "Bigga".

[cstaylor]

I didn't know you were so in tune with urban culture, CS.

There's a lot you don't know... just because I dress like a bum doesn't make me one.

[cstaylor]

No. Replacing the 'N' with a 'W'. Think Vanilla Ice.

Wouldn't that be 'Vigga'?

He's White.

[Naniwan Kid]

Like Nigger, Kike, Gook, Slope, etc...Jap is a word that was spawned from racist ideals. Languages evolve and change, but I think that it is important to know the basic history of the words you use.

Just because YOU don't mean to use it in a racist way, doesn't mean that someone who hears you may not hear it that way.

I won't say I have never used the word (almost always in refereces to things...i.e. Jap-Music) but always around people who understand my reference. I would never use the term around people I didn't know.

I am actually more offended by the use of the term Oriental in reference to people. It took my mom a couple times to get that right, but now she is a proud "Asian" speaking woman!

[Naniwan Kid]

The term Japanimation isn't racist, it's just supposed to be a clever mash of two words.

Jap is obviously short for Japanese. It was used quite liberally as a negative term towards Japanese people in WWII.

The user may not be racist, but the term is dripping with racism. It should be used with care....

[Taro Toporific]

[devicenull]

[Caustic Saint]

In Korean "guk" can mean soup, broth, bureau or department.

How that leads to this:

is beyond me.

There is no site at that address, but there is a http://goodmorning.co.kr/, but that's a urology clinic.

[Naniwan Kid]

Let's get back on the main track.

As a white man, if I were to sit at lunch with ANY of you people and to refer to black people as "niggers" it would help you make an an opinion about me.

If I sat with lunch with one of you , and you started talking about "niggers" our lunch would end soon.

It is interesting how much baggage we attach to a word. Being from the Pacific NW we don't use the word "nigger" in ANY context, but from watching TV and visiting different parts of America I have seen that it means different things in different places.

Personally I still have a hard time hearing it, more than a hard time using it, and am offended (for some reason) when people use it freely in reference to black people.

So I try to hold the word "jap" in the same context.

BUT!!!!!

Lenny Bruce said it best when he said (something like) when you give a word POWER it has POWER over you. Wrods shouldn't have power, PEOPLE should have power, and we should TAKE BACK the power that those words have over us.

food for thought.

[kotatsuneko]

back in london, for some reason or other, most of my jobs involved working in companies where a high percentage of the workforce were black

suited me just fine, as i find them easier to get on with than just about any race.. so anyhow , there was this guy from lagos if i remember rightly, that is , he was born there, and he said i acted like a "nigger" - not "nigga" apart from dipshit teens, the "nigga" term never "took off" in the uk, thank fuck..

anyhow, i was often reffered to as "white nigger" or just plain "nigger" which i found hilarious.. what i found tiring and annoying was the racial tensions between different groups ie muslims having a go at sikhs, chinese against asians / blacks , russians / east europeans vs middle easterns etc.. then your basic white trash against anyone..

i thought i'd find it easier here, with just one basic group of people to deal with )you dont notice the koreans, well i dont anyhow, as they seem to be korean only in passport)

fact is i guess i take issue with discrimination, especially when it involves someone close to me, or me...

i dont think the term jap holds any racist overtones anymore, but have only ever used it to describe a thing, and fuck it, how tiresome it is to say japanese or type it all the bloody time..

its a matter of taste/preference and no amount of discussing it is ever gonna change anything.. i mean i would say that chun king express is just that much better than amelie, so you dont agree? wail on about it forever but thats not gonna change it..

the most offensive term in the world is racist, as if its used against someone they are the amongst the worst kind of people in the world...imho

[katakori]

I'm noticing some of the new posters throw around the word 'jap'. Which, if you ARE Japanese, most find it offensive.

as far as the new posters are concerned, if they only used the "j" word, that would be far less offensive then the actual content of their "fuckin-those-bitches-asses" posts...

[GomiGirl]

I won't say I have never used the word (almost always in refereces to things...i.e. Jap-Music) but always around people who understand my reference. I would never use the term around people I didn't know.

I have never used the term Jap in describing a person. ("My Jap friends" or "He is a Jap" is simply NOT acceptable)

But I sometimes use it as a abbreviation for Japanese things (eg I am going to my Jap lesson)

[kamome]

Probably the acceptable exception to the "Jap is offensive" rule is the case where you're using it as a shortform method of typing "Japanese" in an email. But I have to say, even doing that feels weird to me. I just can't bring myself to say "Jap" in any circumstance, even where it's plain that it's just being used as an abbreviation in a post. "J" is usually the better abbreviation, as in "J-lesson", "J-food", or "J-babe".

[Naniwan Kid]

I'm going to give you my take on this subject, take it or leave it, but it's how I feel.

These worsd are based on power, and their "offense" level is based on power. (and this is from an American perspective)

Whites started calling blacks "nigger", "jiggaboo", "darky" etc... during the slave days in America. This was a time when blacks had no power, and whites RULED America.

These words dripped with racism, and it isn't a proud time in America.

But people still use these words today.

Blacks sometimes use the word "cracker" or "honky" in reference to whites in America.

These words do NOT hold the same meaning as "nigger".

Ask a white person if he has ever been upset being called a "cracker".

Likely the answer is "no".

As a black person if he has ever been offended being called a "nigger".

Likely the answer is yes.

That is due to the history and power of the word.

English folks call Americans "Yanks" or "Yankees". It isn't offensive, as there is no power struggle. There is no peacock-like showing of colors. Brits are not offended by the term "limeys" for the same reason.

So to get back to Japan.

Americans called Japanese folks "japs" and "nips" starting in WWII (maybe earlier)....the word has a history and meaning. It may not be as deep as it is for a Japanese person living in Japan, but ask a person who lived in the interment camps in 1945 or 1946 if he is offended being called a "jap". My guess is yes.

As educated people, we have a wide choice of words to use. Why use or abuse a word that is deep-fried ir racist history?

My 2-yen....

[oyajikun]

I'll only say the J-word if a Japanese person refers to me as honky, and only after my sides stop hurting from laughter.

[Naniwan Kid]

I think if ANYONE called me a honky I'd laugh.

I was out today with some American and Japanese friends and a gaijin (maybe Phillipino or South American, maybe homeless) guy came up to one Japenese girl. She walked away from him and he said "You fucking Jap bitch" So I yelled at him and he called me "White Trash".

You know, I had to laugh, and said "I've been called worse than that".

[sideways_gaijin]

I find it annoying, but not offensive! I'm in England now and sometimes get called a gaijin when in London. Normally I just ignore it, but sometime it really annoys me. A bit of J-speak normally stops them in their tracks.

[Taro Toporific]

I was out today with some American and Japanese friends and a gaijin (maybe Phillipino or South American, maybe homeless) guy came up to one Japenese girl. She walked away from him and he said "You fucking j-word woman"

I'm always surprised that there are not more wildly insane "repatriated" Japanese. Brazilians have personalities like antimatter-Japanese. I really feel for them...Japan must feel tough and cold to them.

[ramchop]

I'm going to give you my take on this subject, take it or leave it, but it's how I feel.

These worsd are based on power, and their "offense" level is based on power. (and this is from an American perspective)

So does that mean that "Gook" isn't offensive because America lost that power struggle? :P

[ramchop]

Double post... but that was an interesting effect. I'll try it again:

Gook

How about?:

G o o k

[ramchop]

The c-word is no longer cunt

[kamome]

The joys of word filters...hello, George Orwell.

[Caustic Saint]

Well, there may be filters, but there are always cheats.

gook

(Note to mods: I will not use my powers for evil. )