[The E]

No. KometJPNs changes will have to be merged into FSO in order to do that.

Also, "Japs"? What is this, WW2?

[Spoon]

Also, "Japs"? What is this, WW2?

Incoming politicial correct ****storm!

[Mongoose]

Yeah, let's consider "Japs" to be a no-go in here.  The term may not mean anything to some people today, but it certainly does for others given the loaded history behind it.

And this is all great stuff, Komet. Not only is the entire translation and character usage a feat in and of itself, but those are some really cool visual effects that I'm really hoping the team will be able to merge into the SCP codebase.  With any luck, someone will eventually be able to implement true UTF-8 support, so that this and any other future translations can be handled natively.

[Bobboau]

no one born after 1950 would use the word jap as a derogatory, they'd have no reason to, cause Japan has been nothing but cool sense the war ended, three generations ago.

honestly I think letting derogatory meaning fade is a good thing, so on terms like that I usually don't draw attention to it, unless someone else has already.

[Aardwolf]

Off topic, but I agree with Bobboau.

Lemma: the word 'nigga' should go hide in a corner in shame.

[Mongoose]

New statement: let's kill the off-topic PC discussion before it starts.

[Bobboau]

a split might be more effective, though it hasn't quite reached critical mass

[Goober5000]

Abbreviations are racial slurs now?

Thread split; let's not distract from Komet's excellent work with this topic.

[Blue Lion]

Abbreviations are racial slurs now?

Thread split; let's not distract from Komet's excellent work with this topic.

Oh I think there may be some hiSPanICS who may find abbreviations racial slurs.

[karajorma]

Not to mention the derogatory shortening of Pakistani.


Anyway, the one Japanese person on this thread (well before it was split off) agreed it was derogatory. That's good enough for me.

[Dragon]

Maybe it should also be moved to GD, I don't see this thread having much in common with FreeSpace.

[General Battuta]

Abbreviations are racial slurs now?

Thread split; let's not distract from Komet's excellent work with this topic.

Agh. Please. 'Jap' is incredibly offensive to those of Japanese ancestry. It is a definite slur.

I remember Rian slapping me silly (not quite literally) the first time I brought it up, and I learned my lesson then. I'm just glad I never somehow used it in front of her grandmother.

[Spoon]

Agh. Please. 'Jap' is incredibly offensive to those of Japanese ancestry. It is a definite slur.

Why? What's the history behind it?
I've always used it as an abbreviation really.

[General Battuta]

It's primarily a problem amongst Japanese-Americans due to its extensive use in World War II propaganda.

It's a lot like the term 'colored'. Seems inherently inoffensive, but it isn't due to its history.

Please, please don't use it. It brings up extraordinarily painful associations for a lot of people.

[karajorma]

Maybe it should also be moved to GD, I don't see this thread having much in common with FreeSpace.

Give it a day or so. In general it's a bad idea to move a split thread without the participants knowing where their posts went.

[Mongoose]

Especially when the moderator is wondering why one of the posts he was attempting to moderate is still getting reported a day after the fact.

[Aardwolf]

Because HLP is an army of stupid cattle.

[Kie99]

The only reason these offensive words are offensive is because people give that meaning to them, for example by reprimanding those who use them, or banning the words.  I might use the term Jap or Japs, not because I hate the Japanese, because it's quicker than typing 'Japanese People' or 'Japanese Person'.  The words 'Yank' and 'Jock' are similar, and I've never seen any posts removed for the use of those words.  'Paki' is different because it's often used to refer to all people who look middle Eastern, but from what I've heard, it is fairly normal for Pakistanis to use it between themselves.

[Rian]

No. Absolutely not. It is not an acceptable abbreviation because it is a racist slur. Most such terms are shorter than the words they replace, or they wouldn't roll off the tongue so easily. That doesn’t make them acceptable in civilized discourse.

[Aardwolf]

I, for one, was not alive during the second world war, nor were any of you as far as I am aware.