"How to Spot a Jap" (kind of a jaw-dropper)

[dr_hermes]

This was produced in 1942 by Milton Caniff of TERRY AND THE PIRATES, as part of a booklet for US Army and Navy servicemen going to China. This page was not included in later reprints, though, so it seems not to have gone over too well. Its information seems so simplistic and inaccurate that today the reaction is usually "not knowing whether to

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

Hope you don't mind my linking this post over at Fanficrants; it seemed relevant to a discussion of names for various ethnic groups, and which countries and generations deem them offensive. (There are a lot of people too young to have much awareness of WWII-era mores who--even in contexts that make it clear that the writers are fans of Japanese media and culture--use the term "Jap" as a simple abbreviation.)

http://community.livejournal.com/fanficrants/9131322.html

[dr_hermes]

Please, feel free to link these posts.

The connotations of words does change. In the early 1960s, "Negro" was considered the polite and proper word to use, while "Black" was seen as crude and gauche. That's all changed now, as well.

[m_faustus]

I saw almost this exact same page (it might have been the exact same one) at the D-Day museum in New Orleans. It struck me as crazy then, and it does now too.

[dr_hermes]

Ths was commissioned for A POCKET GUIDE TO CHINA, to be given out to servicemen, so it may not represent Caniff's beliefs.