[coastcat]

I didn't want to derail Michelle's thread about settling in, so I'll start a new one...

Regarding some of the comments made about shopping for cars... Is it common and acceptable in the UK and NZ to shorten "Japanese" to "Jap"? In the US, that's considered a derogatory racial term and was flung about with malicious intent during (and after) WWII.

I'm of Japanese heritage (my mother's side), and yes, I've had that word thrown at me in a hateful manner during my childhood. I'm a wee bit sensitive to it. If it's used there simply as an abbreviation rather than an insult, well, someone please warn me now before I slap some unsuspecting Kiwi or Brit!

[Moorf]

Hiya - Yes, it is a very common expression in my experience and it is not meant to be derogatory in any manner whatsoever.....

Bit like Brit for British I guess :D

[veronica]

I agree with morph its just an abbreviation thats used with no hidden meanings again like Brit, Kiwi and probabably others, the only one I am sure they don't shorten is Thai.

[bbq]

hiya

I am working for a Japanese bank, and 'Jap' seems to be used in the same vein as 'Brit'. In normal use no slur is intended in any way.

cheers

alex

[xanctus]

I think word "japanese " called Jap is much better than some people called japanese car as "rice". I,myself, don't have any japanese blood in my veins...but I am quite disturbed when people address some japanese/asian things as "rice" :?

[Moorf]

I have never heard the expression "rice" for Japanese items! What a strange expression!

[bbq]

I have never heard the expression "rice" for Japanese items! What a strange expression!

I remember many many years ago in boys comics of the 1950s and early 1960s, the all action british soldier would go into action attacking the ".......rice eaters...." I haven't heard it used for at least 20 years in the UK.

cheers

alex

[Diny]

I have often heard those highly coloured 'Power Ranger' style motorbikes referred to as 'Rice Burners'.

I agree with the above comments, the term Jap is simply used as a lazy way of saying Japanese, such as Brit and Aussie etc.

I'm sure there's never any malice behind the term 'Jap'.

Diny

[coastcat]

How would you shorten "Thai"? "Ta"? :laugh

I will try to not be offended by that word in NZ, but it will make me wince every time I hear it. That will never change. As I said, it's a slur in this country and I've been on the receiving end of it. There are worse anti-Asian slurs of course, and yes, I was called those as well as a child (when I looked very Japanese - as an adult, when I could actually deal with the prejudice, I look much more Caucasian, go figure). At least I'm pretty sure those aren't considered socially acceptable in NZ!

A lot of car geeks of my acquaintance use "rice" to describe a specific kind of car - one that's tricked out with things like huge spoilers, noise-amplifying mufflers, booming stereos, and other modifications that don't actually improve the car's performance (this is referred to as "ricing out the car"). Most of these cars are Honda Civics, but the drivers can be of any race and the vehicle can be from any company or country.

I don't find it all that offensive to call a Honda a "rice-burner". It's not a personal attack based on race. The car doesn't care what you call it, as long as you feed it petrol and wash it once in a while!

[Diny]

Coastcat

You'll be fine.

I have to admit that I used to get offended by the term Pom, simply because in the past it is a word/name that has been almost spat at me, like I'm something that has be brought in on the bottom of somebody's shoe.

However, I soon realised that these people were of no importance or significance to me or my life. I now don't bat an eyelid when I'm called a Pom and even refer to myself as one.

It's not the words that are used, it's the tone in which they are spoken. My father in law is a very good example of this. If he talks about a person who's a real bad lot, abit of a criminal or a general all round no hoper he'll say he's "a right joker". However, if he's talking about a best mate, an all time good guy who everybody likes and is a pleasure to be around, he'll call him "a right bloody bas***d".

Strange eh?

Diny

[jesselyn]

years ago, while riding a jeepney a korean guy asked me "are you jap?". i know he was not calling me names just asking if i am from japan. umm im not, im from the philippines. another asian country whose ppl are really rice eaters...

i totally agree, that jap is just like brit or kiwi or aussie...

jes :angel

[bbq]

Before my post a bit of background for non brits!

People from part of London use a rhyming slang vocabularly, for example

"Plates" means "feet", because "Plates of meat" rhymes with feet. Its more difficult for some to understand because the word that is used is NOT the one that rhymes.

Lecture over..

As a scot in London, I'd like to be called a Scot, or scottish, or perhaps jock. But what do they call me? "Sweaty" why? because "jock" (in itself a slang word for a scot), anyway, because "jock" rhymes with "Sweaty Sock"

:(

cheers all

alex :D

[Raeven]

LOL, alex,

Loved that!!! Made me think about what they call Yanks in Aussie and NZ.. septic tanks, 'coz it rhymes with Yank. Now, do you think that's the only reason they use that term?? :laugh

Gotta keep a sense of humor, wot?

All the best, Rae

[kamus]

Apparently I've led a sheltered life here in the US. What is a "Pom" and what does the term derive from?

Clueless in cluelessville

[coastcat]

Apparently I've led a sheltered life here in the US. What is a "Pom" and what does the term derive from?

Clueless in cluelessville

It's the slang term for Brit as used in Australia and New Zealand. The origin of the word is obscure - see the following link for some theories:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pom1.htm

I first learned the term from Monty Python (the Australian philosophers sketch).

[veronica]

the convicts who were shipped out to the colonys wore uniforms with the letters P O M E stencilled on them. (prisoners of mother England). we have tried to explain to the Aussies that theat would be them then as they are decendents but they won't have it and the nick name has stuck

[karltsmith]

Hi Kamus,

Pom, derogatory, derives from a fruit with edible seeds and a red blush the “pomegranate” said to resemble the sunburn new immigrants got on arrival in Australia. Another theory is that this was a double rhyming term derived from cockney rhyming slang. In Australia a “Jimmygrant” was the rhyming term Ozzies used for and Immigrant. They rhymed Jimmygrant with Pomegranate and then contracted it to Pom.


POME (Prisoner Of Mother England) and POHM (Prisoner of His Majesty) were also said to be origins of the expression after the initials used on the back of convicts uniforms sent out to Australia. There is however no evidence to support this theory and it has been discounted as an urban myth. Acronyms in the English language were almost unheard of at the time!


Regards Karl :P

(The Limey, derog, USA/Can, Lime Juicer, wrt Naval Seamen, Limes being given to sailors to prevent scurvy) :wah

[Annierobrigado]

hiya all

i've always believed and have been taught that while you are still in the aquaintance stage, or have not been formally introduced, that you should always refer to the other person formally, unless you are told by that person that you can call him by his short names or pet names. that's why for coastcat, i'd refer to her as Japanese-American if i'm to talk about heritage, or Moorf as British or Veronica as New Zealander (did i get things right?) because we're all still in the aquaintance stage. now if we all got to know each other pretty well, well enough to borrow a cup of sugar from, i'd probably use less formal words, but not really "bloody good b*****d" coz gee, i'm not made of the stuff that can say that and get away with it. I do however use "a*****e" in reference to people who did no good, but then not to their faces too.

I guess that's just the way with convent-schooled girls like me hahahah ;)

so, coastcat, if i got to see you in person, i'd probably call you beautiful because i can imagine what features you have from a mix of Japanese and American (Caucasian).

:nice1
annie

[veronica]

no I'm a Brit

[Diny]

Annie

I agree, I've always been brought up to address people by their full name/official title until I have been 'invited' to do otherwise. I couldn't refer to anybody as a 'bloody good bas***d' either - but yes, I have used the term a******e from time to time.

I have always been led to believe the origins of the word Pom to come from the 'prisoner of mother England' theory. Just to add another detail to this story, I am informed by a very reliable source (Pakeha Boy) that no convicts were ever shipped to NZ. When I was at school any geography lesson that related to the southern hemisphere always put NZ together with Australia, they were never really described as 2 separate countries. My first recolections of anything 'NZ' was a blue rossette which used to hand in the local butchers window which said 'Canterbury lamb NZ'.

Also - must share this one with you - as a follow up to what Veronica said about trying to tell the Aussies that they are the true Poms. On one of our trips over to NZ to see the inlaws, we found ourselves one afternoon going for a walk up the hills behind their house. My sister in law (who has never attempted to hide her dislike for anything that didn't originate in the Manawatu) was pointing out different things along the way. The wild perriwinkles that grew everywhere were in full bloom and some of the trees were in arrays of wonderful colour. However, everytime she saw a weed growing or something that wasn't particularly 'easy on the eye' she would snarl ...."your lot brought over". This carried on all afternoon until I informed her .. "no - your lot brought it over, all of my lot are still at home". Talk about selective memories as far as heritage is concerned. I am the first member of my family to be emigrating to NZ (no matter how far back you go in history) - her family had been there for 3 generations only.

Be prepared for this attitude.

Diny

[Annierobrigado]

no I'm a Brit

:angel
:eek

i sit corrected. thanks veronica.

annie ;)

[Annierobrigado]

Annie

However, everytime she saw a weed growing or something that wasn't particularly 'easy on the eye' she would snarl ...."your lot brought over". This carried on all afternoon until I informed her .. "no - your lot brought it over, all of my lot are still at home". Talk about selective memories as far as heritage is concerned. I am the first member of my family to be emigrating to NZ (no matter how far back you go in history) - her family had been there for 3 generations only.

Be prepared for this attitude.

Diny

hi diny,

thanks for the warning. (including your sister in law :mrgreen: ) didnt she think about the migratory birds that brought all these wonderful flowers and plants and yes, even trees and weeds? they could have come from nepal or hawaii, for that matter. oh well...

by the way, we call ourselves Pinoy for short. it's a sort of endearment among us, and sometimes the americans get to use it too, on account of the many fil-ams that live all over the usa. if it's used as a slur against us, we just grin at them and say thank you (while calling them names behind the grin, hahaha, again not to their faces and we use the dialect)

funny world, aint it? i wonder if this world isnt loony tune land instead, and the warner bros cartoon is the real world.

:P
annie

[Diny]

Annie

Good point !! I bet in Loony Tune world they go and watch cartoons about us.

Good point about the plants, flowers and weeds being brought in by the wildlife. That explanation would be wasted on her though - believe me.

Diny

[Annierobrigado]

diny

:uhoh :eek :no :roll:

dont give her chocolates.

;) annie