Jap

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:29 PM -0400 5/25/05, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>And when Spanish and Portuguese split off at MSU recently, the new
>French, Italian, and Classics Department could not be FIC, and
>appartent oversensitivity to Germanic. (And Spanish and Portuguese is
>not SAP either.) Luckily The Department of Linguistics, Germanic,
>Slavic, Asian and African Languages is LGSAAL, hard to make into
>anything (or pronounce for that matter).
>
>dInIs

Obviously you need to invite in a couple of additional languages so
that you can rearrange the letters to derive something pronounceable
as "Lollygags".

Larry

>
>>When we added Japanese to the languages we run out of Linguistics, we had
>>to come up with a suitable catalog abbreviation.  Of course, JAP was out,
>>even though three-letter codes were preferred.  So we came up with JAPN,
>>and still the Dean worried that we would be thought racist.  She wanted
>>JPN, but we held firm on JAPN and won.  It's less opaque, obviously.
>>
>>
>>At 05:32 PM 5/25/2005, you wrote:
>>>The OED definition: "Colloquial abbreviation of Japanese" with a
>>>statement that the word has strong derogatory connotations.  Like you, I
>>>don't find an explicit slur in the cites below.  However, I was in the
>>>process of searching for information on Japanese magicians of the era,
>>>and many descriptions of the Japanese are paternalistic, if not
>>>insulting, and there is no doubt that it was acceptable to be racist in
>>>print.  Slurs abound explicitly.  My definition, using "slur", was a
>>>quick-and-dirty attempt to make clear the word I was antedating, and was
>>>also meant to encode the fact that I am aware this is now a taboo word.
>>>
>>>>  -----Original Message-----
>>>>  From: American Dialect Society
>>>>  [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Mark A. Mandel
>>>>  Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 4:04 PM
>>>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>>  Subject: Re: Jap
>>>>
>>>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>  -----------------------
>>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>  Poster:       "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
>>>>  Subject:      Re: Jap
>>>>  --------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>  -----------------
>>>>
>>>>  "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> sez:
>>>>  >>>
>>>>   Jap -- slur for Japanese -- OED has ca. 1880
>>>>
>>>>  (used in article title only)  "The Japanese Embassy.  From
>>>>  the Japanese on their way home.  News of the Niagra.  What
>>>>  the Japs think of their visit to America." New York Times;
>>>>  Aug 20, 1860; pg. 1 col 1.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  "Little "All Right" " New York Times; Aug 12, 1867; pg. 8 col 2.
>>>>
>>>>  "It was the second troupe that arrived in Jersey City on
>>>>  Saturday, and with them the two much coveted Japs."
>>>>  <<<
>>>>
>>>>  Was it intended as a slur in these cites? It isn't evident
>>>>  (to me at least).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  mark by hand
>>>>
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
>Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
>A-740 Wells Hall
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824
>Phone: (517) 432-3099
>Fax: (517) 432-2736
>preston at msu.edu