So we're trying to get back to that old game of games, World in Flames, when one of my sons asked something that I thought was a good question. He asked why is it that 'Jap' is considered a racist term, and 'kraut' is merely considered a derogatory term? After all, Jap is really just short for Japanese. Yet that's racist. While kraut is a term digging at that particular cuisine preference common in parts of Germany and Austria. Yet it's not racist. Why is that? Heck, why is Jap offensive at all when we called our own closest allies Limeys? A term, once again, merely described as either slang or perhaps derogatory, but not racist.
I told him I can't say, but I can sure guess.
Anyway, I will be out and about over the next few days. God willing, I'll be back to answer comments and see what other mischief the World is getting into. Until then, Pax.
(Tom New Poster)
ReplyDeleteDave, it may be context. Americans knew lots of people of German ancestry long before we fought them in WWI, and "limey" was British slang for their own sailors long before it became a word here, but in 1941, unless you lived in Hawaii or parts of California, you'd be unlikely to know anyone whose roots lay in the Far East.
Sometimes there's no apparent logic. In Britain, it seems to be ok to call working-class folks from central London, Liverpool or the Northeast "Cockney", "Scouser" or "Geordie", at least if you're from the same class. But if you value your looks, don't call a Glasgow Scot "Weegie", a Welshman "Taffy" or a Derryman "bogsider".