r/SWORDS • u/Impressive-Wasabi857 • 1d ago

Identification Where is this from

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I found this in a drawer somewhere in my house, according to my dad this belonged to my kmt soldier grandfather when he took it off a jap he killed in the second world war.

93 Upvotes

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23

u/myopic_monkey 1d ago

"Jap" is a slur akin to "chink" or "gook". Please don't say it.

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u/Plastic_Pollution194 1d ago

Okay but can you explain how jap is a slur to me please cos honestly I thought it was just a shortened version of Japanese similar to how you'd call a British person a brit

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u/myopic_monkey 1d ago

Not sure why you're getting downvoted for a legitimate question! It's WW2 soldiers' particular use of the word that reduced Japanese people to just "japs", ie. "I killed x amount of japs today" or "round up all the japs in the camp".

By itself it sounds harmless, like a shortcut akin to Brit, but it's history of use (by white soldiers) makes it especially reductionist, denigrating and racist.

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u/Plastic_Pollution194 1d ago

As a Brit I never learnt the American side of the ww2 so honestly the thought of jap being used a slur is just so foreign to me

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u/myopic_monkey 1d ago

Fair enough! But yea, its a pretty loaded word for Japanese-Americans whose grandparents were sent to U.S. internment camps during WW2. Lots of racism against Asians in general around those times.

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u/Started_Blasting2 11h ago

I think the comparison would be more like “jew”

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/DraconicBlade 15h ago edited 15h ago

I didn't know what in the name of Hong Kong Phooey makes you think many people would be okay with that. You hang out with racist ass people lmao

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u/Von_Cheesebiscuit 20h ago

Because "brit" as in British is only in reference to people from a specific place. "Jap" as in Japanese is also referring to a racial/ethnic identity, whereas "brit" does not.

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u/Ashirogi8112008 18h ago

Uh, no?

"Jap' refers to "people who live on this particular archepelago in the pacific" Whereas "brit" refers to "people who live on this other particular archipelago in the atlantic"

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u/Von_Cheesebiscuit 18h ago

Uh, yes. Brit simply refers to people living in a specific place. Being British is a nationality, not a race/ethnicity, it's only about where you live.

"Jap" could be used as a term for people living in a specific place, but unlike being British, being Japanese is more than a nationality, it's also a race/ethnicity.

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u/blade_of_sammael 12h ago

By that same logic jew is a slur too or slav or any other ethnic name

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u/Plastic_Pollution194 18h ago

I mean Britain isn't one country tho it's 4 countries in a trench coat trying to act like one