It’s just scientific fact that they love being slaves to corporations unlike us, the proudly independent and individualistic Westerners smuglord

Source: I was on a Discord with a Japanese dude

  • AsLeftAsTheyCome [they/them, any]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    but a Japanese in the group objected

    This phrasing kinda has similar vibes to someone insistently calling trans people “the transgenders.” It’s such a weird, petty way to signal bigotry and ignorance.

    • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      I thought so too, but then I sort of realised that it’s pretty normal “a german, a frenchman and a swede walks into a bar” doesn’t sound weird. Nor does “I met an american yesterday, they were very loud”.
      “A japanese” still looks weird and signals weirdo energy, but it shouldn’t. I wonder why?

      • AsLeftAsTheyCome [they/them, any]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        That’s a fair point!

        I think it could be the -ese at the end. “A chinese” has the same weird vibe whereas “a korean” sounds better, so I don’t think it’s (necessarily) the history of bigotry against East Asians that makes it sound off.

        To me, the -ese ending kinda implies that the speaker is referencing a group. Words ending in -ese seem to lean more plural by default and using them to refer to singular individuals feels off, at least in my opinion. English is a very strange language though and I could very easily be wrong.

    • PeeOnYou [he/him]@lemmygrad.ml
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      8 months ago

      well I remember my grandma saying similar things but shortening Japanese to 3 letters… my grandpa was in WW2 and she never let go of that hatred

      • doublepepperoni [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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        8 months ago

        It’s less that it’s a direct translation and more that a natively Japanese person isn’t likely to be aware of the vaguely racist vibes “a Japanese” has to a native English speaker

        There is no word that means just “Japanese” in Japanese. 日本人 specifically means Japanese person and is just the words Japan and person smashed together