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Revision as of 03:25, 28 November 2005 by PuzzletChung (talk | contribs) (Hangulgo -> Hangul)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Kotobagari (言葉狩り, lit. "word hunting") refers to the censorship of words considered politically incorrect in the Japanese language. It often conveys negative connotations that sarcastically criticize the excess persistence in political correctness. Words such as gaijin ("foreigner/outsider"), rai ("leper") , mekura ("blind") , tsunbo ("deaf") , kichigai ("crazy"), tosatsujō ("slaughter house"), and hakuchi ("moron/retard") are currently not used by the majority of Japanese publishing houses; the publishers often refuse to publish writing which includes these words.
Critics of kotobagari point out that the activity often does not serve the purpose of correcting the underlying cause of discrimination. For example, a school janitor in Japan used to be called a kozukai-san (小使いさん "chore person"). Some felt that the word had a derogatory meaning, so it was changed to yōmuin (用務員 "task person"). Now yōmuin is considered demeaning, so there is shift to use kōmuin (校務員 "school task person") or kanrisagyōin (管理作業員 "maintenance person") instead, an example of what Steven Pinker calls the "euphemism treadmill".
Other examples of words which have become unacceptable include the replacement of the word hyakushō for farmer with nōka, or the replacement of the word shina for China written in kanji with the version written in katakana or the word Chūgoku.
Kotobagari and Ideology
Kotobagari has lead to words that can be confusing.
NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Company runs a Korean language study program, but the language is called Hangul to avoid being politically incorrect. This is a result of both the North and South Korean governments demanding that the program be called by the name of one country. North Korea wanted the show to be called Chosen language (朝鮮語) taken from its full name, 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国 or Democratic People's Republic of Korea. South Korea wanted Kankoku language (韓国語) from 大韓民国 or Republic of Korea. As a compromise, Hangul was selected, but this has led to the usage of the non-existent term Hangul language to refer to the Korean language.
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