Jjokbari

Jjokbari
A Korean language banner in 2005 reads: "Dokdo! Don't worry. The ghost and jjokbari-catching ROK Marines are here. — Local association of retired ROK Marines"[1]
Japanese name
Kana	チョッパリ
Transcriptions Romanization Choppari
Korean name
Hangul	쪽발이 / 쪽바리
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Jjokbari McCune–Reischauer Tchokpari

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

Jjokbari (Korean: 쪽발이, borrowed into Japanese as チョッパリ, romaji choppari) is a Korean language ethnic slur which may refer to Japanese citizens or people of Japanese ancestry.^[2]

According to one survey, it was Korea's second-most commonly used slur against Japanese people, ahead of wae-nom and behind ilbon-nom (both roughly mean "Japanese bastards").^[3]

Origin

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.

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.^[4]

Alternatively, jjokbari may came from the sound made by a person wearing geta when they are walking.^[5]

A third theory explains that jjokbari could also mean "pig's foot".^[6][7] This is from a comparison between the appearance of a pig's cloven hooves and the feet of a person wearing tabi or geta.

In Japan

The term has also been borrowed into Japanese language spoken by ethnic Koreans in Japan, where it is rendered Choppari.^[5][8] 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 by Koreans to refer to Japanese with Korean ancestry.^[9] The Japanized pronunciation of this form, ban-choppari, is also widely used by Koreans in Japan, either to refer to Japanized Koreans or to people with both Japanese and Korean ancestry.^[5][10]

See also

• Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea
• Anti-Japanese sentiment
• Zainichi Korean language
• Jap (English)
• Xiao riben (Chinese)
• Guizi (Chinese)

References

1. in Korean text: "독도야! 걱정마라. 귀신도 잡고, 쪽바리 잡는 해병대가 있단다. — 해병전우회"
2. "표준국어대사전 (Great Dictionary of the Standard National Language)". National Institute of the Korean Language. Retrieved 2007-05-10. Jjok-bari (noun): 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]
3. 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: 23. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
4. Lee, O-Young (1999). Things Korean. North Clarendon, Vermont, United States: Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-2129-1.
5. Constantine, Peter (1992). Japanese Street Slang. Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0250-3.
6. 일본인을 "쪽바리"라고 부르는 어원(語源) (in Korean). (주)이비뉴스 Co., Ltd. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
7. '쪽바리'와 돼지 족발 (in Korean). Newdaily. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
8. Shoji, Kaori (2001-03-24). "From Tokyo, a Film of Us vs. Them". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-06-28. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
9. 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.
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.