PaulTB,
I'm curious as to where the poll was taken - as in, what country - not, which publication. I would be surprised if that poll was taken in the U.S. considering how politically sensitive any racial derogatory term is nowadays, though I wouldn't rule it out completely. If the poll was taken elsewhere where racial sensitivities are not as prevalent, then who knows.
Just wondering ...

Nihon-jin wrote:

PaulTB, I'm curious as to where the poll was taken - as in, what country - not, which publication.

Like I said, JAPANTODAY.

Hard to make any reall assessment of that poll since it was done via the internet... It's pretty obvious that Japanese-Americans are the most sensitive to the term, so having someone like John Doe from Outer Mongolia vote who has never interacted with any Japanese folks is ridiculous and taints the poll...

bmwracer wrote:

Hard to make any reall assessment of that poll since it was done via the internet...

Well that bit is true enough.

bmwracer wrote:

It's pretty obvious that Japanese-Americans are the most sensitive to the term, so having someone like John Doe from Outer Mongolia vote who has never interacted with any Japanese folks is ridiculous and taints the poll...

But that's just silly.
1. A world-wide poll compared to a poll of Japanese-Americans is in no way 'tainted'. They are just recording the opinion of a different range of people.
2. How many people from Outer Mongolia are going to be on the Internet, visiting sites in English related to Japan anyway?
3. The poll pre-selects for people interested in Japan by virtue of being in a site centered on Japan. If anything there would be a greater proportion of people with contact with Japanese than if (for example) random people had been stopped and asked on random American streets.

Before we get all excited here, keep in mind that the poll was conducted in a very non-scientific manner (to say the least). True, anyone was invited to cast a vote so what you have is a snapshot of "x" number of people who had the inclination to cast a vote on this issue. And you end up with a 50/50 split in opinion. Surprising? Yes, but don't take it too seriously.

This is very different that one of those polls you read about in the media (radio/tv/newspaper) that at least uses a polling company that takes a random representative sample of the population in question. The emphasis is on random .... typically, a 1,000 people are randomly polled, representative of the population at large (from all the socio-economic, ethnic, religious. etc., groups in that population).

The result you get is a much more representative, fair, and unbiased snapshot of whatever question you're asking. An internet poll is not ... rather, it's an interesting look at the issue at hand ... but take the result with a large grain of salt.

He who have spent a lot of his academic career doing statistical analysis ...

hiroshi wrote:

Before we get all excited here, keep in mind that the poll was conducted in a very non-scientific manner

Hence

Quote:

Well that bit is true enough.

Hi,
i've just read all the thread and i find it very interesting. It seems like i have used the correct form for oriental and Asian so far. I didn't know for sure if the J-word was offensive but i've done good NOT to use it, except when refering to japanimation. It occured to me that it could (and it have) a bad connotation amonst the japanese community, from the little knowledge i possess. I am Canadian, and Canada must be one of the most accepting country around. I'm not saying it's all sugar sweet everyday. I often hear offensive form of language used on ethnies and the fact that you didn't know *may* excuse the first time but it still is a bad excuse. Keep using it after you know is a form of disrespect that i dislike. However, even i can slip sometimes but at least, i'm trying to correct my language as much as i can. Therefore, the question have be posted earlier but no one answered it yet :

Is japanimation ok ? if not, is there another short for japanese animation ?

Thanks !

gahbryel wrote:

Is japanimation ok ?

I've seen it used in print for things like "Japanimation Festival". So from the way I've seen it used, I'm led to believe that it isn't offensive to anyone. Maybe because it contains the entire word "Japan".

Quote:

if not, is there another short for japanese animation ?

anime?

gahbryel wrote:

Is japanimation ok ? if not, is there another short for japanese animation ?Thanks !

Using "japanimation" is okay. However, just about every fan uses the term "anime". Even though technically anime can describe ANY form of animation, when people hear the word "anime", they know you're referring specifically to Japanese animation.

Back to the use of the J-word... Just remember that the Internet has no borders. So someone would be showing their ignorance by saying that "Well, it's acceptable in my country" when the Internet is thought of as a single country in itself.

My train of thought -- if one thousand people find the use of a word as okay, and ONE person says it's offensive, then to me the word is offensive. End of discussion for me! The idea that every Internet user should use is NEVER to do or say something just because YOU think it's right, and instead pay attention and be courteous to the minority populations.

--- groink

If you deconstruct the word "Japanimation" you will notice both the words "Japan" and "animation" are present, albeit, overlapping.


It isn't "Jap-Animation".
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ewww... 666th post.
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I guess so but i just wanted to be sure. It can also be coincidence that "animation" start with "an", which appended to "jap-an" give the original country concerned : Japan.

I take it that japanimation is a correct formulation. It's also my guess that it should be pronounced as one word, without pause.

thanks for the info ! ^^

asdfghjk;;'
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groink wrote:

My train of thought -- if one thousand people find the use of a word as okay, and ONE person says it's offensive, then to me the word is offensive. End of discussion for me! The idea that every Internet user should use is NEVER to do or say something just because YOU think it's right, and instead pay attention and be courteous to the minority populations.

Agreed.

Well, here's a recent development. It's actually been going on for quite some time, as you'll see (I've heard of this situation previously).

Got an entire town's attention.

http://starbulletin.com/breaking/breaking.php?id=2795

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2684366


Some history:

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Mise_00/4423_00.htm

http://www.modelminority.com/article615.html

In France, when we say Jap, it's not nice, but not really offensive, because nobody ( or almost ), don't like Japanese...
Maybe it's because when you are young, you only watch japanese cartoons, or manga on TV...

Xavio wrote:

In France, when we say Jap, it's not nice, but not really offensive, because nobody ( or almost ), don't like Japanese... Maybe it's because when you are young, you only watch japanese cartoons, or manga on TV...

I'm not quite sure, but you're saying that most of the French people like Japanese people, neh?

I got sorta confuesd since you used a double negative in your sentence...

bmwracer wrote:

I'm not quite sure, but you're saying that most of the French people like Japanese people, neh? I got sorta confuesd since you used a double negative in your sentence...

sorry, my english is so bad
I do my best...
Yes i say, all french like japanese...
But sometimes we say jap, it could be for two reasons :
1- to speak faster ( "japonais" is to long)
2- It could be very slightly offensive, but not really because there are other words to discriminate asians people ( but we don't use them )

Rhhhaaa my french english ! Try to imagine my accent, very hard for me

Xavio wrote:

sorry, my english is so bad I do my best... Yes i say, all french like japanese... But sometimes we say jap, it could be for two reasons : 1- to speak faster ( "japonais" is to long) 2- It could be very slightly offensive, but not really because there are other words to discriminate asians people ( but we don't use them ) Rhhhaaa my french english ! Try to imagine my accent, very hard for me

Not to worry... You're doing fine...

By posting and interacting with us here, things can only improve, neh?

bmwracer wrote:

Not to worry... You're doing fine... By posting and interacting with us here, things can only improve, neh?

Thank you very much
I hope, I hope !, but i've learned english for 9 years !!!! This holidays, I spend 2 weeks in england ( my first time in an english country ), and it was dificult for me