It is on my birth certificate, how strange is that?

REALLY? What did they put on non-WASP baby's certificates?

No idea, that's what is in the box under "race or color of mother/father". Since both my parents were listed as WASPs, that makes me one I guess.

In my experience with the term JAP, the emphasis is on the P, not the J. Jokes are about the P.

Yes.

Race is nowhere on my birth certificate. It's not on my children's' birth certificates either. Hmmm.

I agree.

Ditto in my experience as well. I grew up in an area with a lot of spoiled wealthy girls who referred to themselves as that and were proud of the monicker. Similar to the one or two GCers who designate themselves as witches with a capital B, they think their poor manners are okay since they can't help themselves because they are jappy or witchy.

Yeah...I always considered it a negative thing to say about someone but, the other night on MTV's "The Island" when they were voting between Robin and Rachel, Collie looked at Robin and said, "Us Jappy girls gotta' stick together." I thought that was such a random thing to say. Is that considered acceptable to say about yourself, then? I come from an area of little to no diversity-so, things like this are pretty new to me...

^^^Didn't you serve overseas in the military? How can you say you haven't been exposed to diversity? Every time you post now you try to come across as a miss-goody-two-shoes. GC memory's too long for that.

I did serve overseas (once I was in college). I was pulled out after completing my first semester. In fact, until I joined my sorority (when I returned from overseas) I never had a Jewish friend. In my area-it's pretty tiny with pretty much no diversity. Maybe I did have a Jewish friend (in the military) but, I didn't realize he/ she was Jewish. I remember people complaining at PSU that there was little to no diversity (usually the kids from bigger cities) and I would look at them like they were crazy. If you check out the statistics from my high school-it's about 99% Caucasian. Plus, it's a small school where we only graduated about 180 in my class. Thankfully to the military and my collegiate experience, I have encountered many other great and diverse groups of people but, before that-I hadn't.

I'm not trying to come off as "miss-goody-two-shoes" so, please don't think that...I was simply stating that even hearing that term was new to me. The first time I ever even heard that term was about a year or two ago (unless people have said it around me and I never paid any attention because I had no clue what the hell it meant). I asked my friends back home and my mom if they all knew what it meant and they all thought it dealt with people from an Asian background, as well. So, when I heard it explained-it seemed to hold a negative connotation to me. I assume I'm right-so, I would figure people wouldn't be so quick to label themselves as such.

Good luck with recruitment, OP!
And jumping on the 'JAP' bandwagon... my FI's initials are JAP. I'm really glad he never uses them.

I find them equally offensive

Nor do I. I never heard the term until I was in high school, and even then, it was said very disparagingly.

VERY strange! I thought I had seen it all when it comes to vital documents! Yikes!


Seriously, for those of you all who think someone is flattered to be called a WASP, you are very mistaken. I can only imagine that using JAP would be so, too.

[/soapbox]

http://www.pophouse.com/site_images/...~DSC019111.JPG

My obnoxious grandmother gave me this paperdoll set for my birthday when I was a kid. Even then I knew it was odd. As an adult, I cannot imagine calling someone that. Let alone giving this to a child to play with. I don't like the term WASP either. (and for the record I'm Catholic so I don't fall into either stereotype).

And race/ethnicity of my parents isn't on my birth certificate. Only my parents names & place of birth.

So, I looked at my birth certificate, old and crinkled with age. It says Race: Caucasian, Jewish. My parents' birthcertificates were also in the folder, for my father (who was born in 1910...yes, he was in his mid 40s when I was born) there was a place for race (and please forgive the next) and a space for Negro as a separate category.

As far as "Jap" vs. JAP vs. WASP: I think that anytime one marginalizes a group of people by a sterotype it is unfortunate. And, scientifically speaking probably not accurate.