We get it all the time. You can't even imagine -- when we hand out business cards or talk about the website, it always comes up. It's not that we mind it, or that we prefer any one pronunciation to another. We really don't care how you say it, just as long as you read it and love it.
But, you know, people still ask. So we decided to kick off our new Japanator Poll feature by letting you, our dear readers, decide how it's said. This way, once and for all, we can tell anyone that asks how it would properly be said.
So what is it? Does your tongue focus on the beloved country's name (Japan-a-tor)? Or is it the more edgy (and somewhat sexual/racist-sounding!) pronunciation (Jap-a-nator)?
Not gonna lie, when I first ran into the site, I read it like Terminator except with Jap in the front. Still do to this day. Saying it any other way sounds weird in my head.
Jap-a-nator, to be honest it wasn't until I listened to one of your podcasts that I even considered it being pronounced Japan-a-tor. The habit kinda stuck I guess
I previously called it Jap-a-nator since it sounds like Japanese. But now that I think about it, Japan-ator sounds much cooler, and I plan on pronouncing it that way from now on.
"Jap" is a racial slur used by American servicemen in WWII to refer to Japanese people, and some people still consider it offensive. Saying JAP-anator unintentionally emphasizes the "jap" part.
Japan-ator all the way. I always figure the Japan part was obviously because of the content of the site, so to break up that word into Jap-an-ator just seems ridiculous to my brain. >.<
glad to know i wasnt the only who called it jap-a-nator although after listening to one of the podcast i realized how it was pronounced and ever since then jap-a-nator just sounds sort of wierd so i call it japan-a-tor or even j-tor
I think I first said it some other weird way, and then a family member asked what "Japan-ator" was. I knew I thought it sounded stupid at the time but it stuck.
I completely agree with Bahamut. I started thinking about it and my brain fried almost instantly.
Jap-a-nator for the first time I came here, but then I listened to a couple of the podcasts and I was like "Oh!! That's how you say it!" I call it Japan-ator now :)
I just go with the Terminator-sounding one. (I explain thusly to avoid confusion, because the way people have been hyphenating things here doesn't clarify at all for me.)
I did Japan-a-tor at first until my cousin basically laughed at me. I figured I was saying it wrong and have pronounced it Jap-a-nator since. I never thought about it being offensive until reading the comments now.
I asked in one of the comment pages the first day I logged on. I recieved a prompt answer(I don't remember from whom). I loved this page instantly, and wanted to be as succinct as possible. So, Long Live Ja-PAN-a-tor. Plus, Zac Bentz has said it about 500 times on Jtor Radio, so I think we all know what's what.
40 comments
