Hello, im looking into using "Jap" within something online or at least i was until fortunately doing some brief research and reading and finding that on a website that someone can find it offensive. It was expressed by the person that its like a racist comment, already ive taken on board then that using its use say within a domain would be offensive, but i would appreciate some advice on the following: If the word Jap was not cut off by another word within a domain, so the p followed onto another word and two words can exist from the p, would/can it still be offensive? I hope the above makes sense, if your japanese, know the language, culture etc id be very happy of any advice from you, hope you dont see it as ignorance and infact im glad i checked a few things first.
You mean like japeople.com or something similar? I think it would be far more acceptable to use JP, or JPN if you've got an option to do so. I have a few Japanese friends and most of them don't even blink when people talk about Jap cars, Jap import games, Jap films etc... Lots of the Japanese car importers in Australia are called Jap***, even the Japanese owned ones. It all depends on the context. If you're talking about gaming or cars, then I don't think it's a problem. If you're building a social site and referring to people from Japan, then I'd say it's an absolute no go.
Yes like your example, yeah i think maybe JP could be better. It wouldn't be a social site but it would be referring to people from japan, but not in a negative way, but from what your saying i think i will avoid using Jap as its not referring to objects like the ones you mentioned above. I think i will use Japan and with another word together, i dont want to offend anyone and id hate to build up a site then have to change the domain later because of a risky choice. Il keep in mind though that for the objects and merchandise that it seems ok, from what your saying, thats handy to know for possible future projects. Thanks Kerosene, a very helpful post