Jjokbari

Jjokbari (Korean: 쪽발이, borrowed into Japanese as Japanese: チョッパリ, romaji choppari) is a Korean language ethnic slur which may refer to Japanese citizens or people of Japanese ancestry.[1] A variation on the slur, ban-jjokbari, meaning literally "half-jjokbari", has been used to refer to mixed Japanese-Korean people, as well as Koreans in Japan who returned to the peninsula.

Jjokbari
Japanese name
Kanaチョッパリ
Korean name
Hangul쪽발이 / 쪽바리

According to one survey, it was Korea's second-most commonly used slur against Japanese people, ahead of wae-nom (왜놈; 倭놈; lit. Wae bastards) and behind ilbon-nom (일본놈; 日本놈; lit. Japanese bastards).[2]

The term has also been borrowed into Japanese language spoken by ethnic Koreans in Japan, where it is rendered Choppari.[3][4]

Origin
『Dictionnaire coréen-français』1880
『Korean English dictionary』1897

The original meaning is "A cloven foot".[5] Jjok means a "piece" and bal means "feet" in Korean, and when combined it roughly translates to "split feet" or "cloven hoof". This etymology refers to the fact that the Japanese wore geta, a traditional Japanese wooden sandal, which separates the big toe from the others.[6]

A pair of Japanese traditional footwear, geta. Unlike traditional Korean footwear, geta separate the big toe from the other four toes.

Unlike Korean-style straw shoes which completely cover the foot, Japanese-style straw shoes and wooden geta consist of only a sole and straps to bind it to the sole of the foot. This leaves the rest of the foot exposed, including the "split" between the toes. Koreans thought of Japanese shoes as incomplete compared to their own, and the visible split as a distinctive enough trait to inspire an ethnic slur.[7]

Ban-jjokbari

The form ban-jjokbari (literally, "half jjokbari") originated as a derogatory reference to Japanized Koreans during the Japanese colonial period in Korea; later, it came to be used to refer to Japanese with Korean ancestry,[8] as well as Koreans in Japan who returned to the peninsula in both North and South Korea.[9][6]

The Japanized pronunciation of this form, ban-choppari, is also widely used by Koreans in Japan in a similar manner.[3][10]

See also

References
  1. "Jjok-bari (noun)". Standard Korean Language Dictionary. National Institute of the Korean Language. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2007. 1) a single-footed object. 2) an object/animal with split-feet. 3) a derogatory slur for Japanese people. derived from "split feet" (짜개발) and originated from the fact that Japanese people traditionally wore geta. [쪽-발이 (명사) 1) 한 발만 달린 물건. 2) 발통이 두 조각으로 된 물건. 3) 일본 사람을 낮잡아 이르는 말. 엄지발가락과 나머지 발가락들을 가르는 게다를 신는다는 데서 온 말이다.≒짜개발]
  2. Miyazaki, Mina (2001). "チョッパリからイルボンヘ 文化交流の効果 (From Choppari to Ilbon: the effects of cultural exchange)" (PDF) (in Japanese). Seikei University. p. 23. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
  3. Constantine, Peter (1992). Japanese Street Slang. Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0250-3.
  4. Shoji, Kaori (24 March 2001). "From Tokyo, a Film of Us vs. Them". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 28 June 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
  5. 『Dictionnaire coréen-français』 (1880) Paris Foreign Missions Society
  6. "[방종태 칼럼] 한국의 20, 30세대를 위한 '반쪽발이'의 충고". 우리뉴스(민영뉴스통신사) (in Korean). 22 August 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  7. Lee, O-Young (1999). Things Korean. North Clarendon, Vermont, United States: Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-2129-1.
  8. Kramer, Eric Mark (2003). The Emerging Monoculture: Assimilation and the Model Minority. Westport, Connecticut, United States: Praeger/Greenwood. pp. 162–163. ISBN 0-275-97312-3.
  9. Sang-Hun, Choe (5 May 2021). "They Were Promised a Socialist Paradise, and Ended Up in 'Hell'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  10. Gohl, Gerhard (1976). Die koreanische Minderheit in Japan als Fall einer"politisch-ethnischen" Minderheitengruppe (The Korean minority in Japan as a case of a "political-ethnic" minority group). Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz. pp. 139–141.
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