In my experience, “woke” started off as a positive thing that people aspired to be, but the use is becoming progressively sarcastic. If someone on Reddit describes someone else as “woke,” it usually means that person is an aggressive SJW.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2020 06:25AM by BlueDev93.

Ha! My mother and I sometimes watch The Bachelor as a guilty pleasure, and we watch for the jump and grab move! We think the producers make them do it, because YES, no adult woman behaves that way naturally. Once I saw the girl miss and she sort of slid down the front of the guy. Hee!

Irene and some other oldies might remember this, instead of ghosting we would say, "He/she japed me!" meaning we had a date and didn't show up. Nothing racial. I still have an old friend who in high school japed me and I japed him. We both didn't show up, we can laugh about it 60 years later. I have no clue where the word came from. 1960s.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2020 06:06PM by shopper8.

I don't worry about being out of the loop or knowing the latest in-crowd lingo. I just go about my business; raising my family, enjoying my friends, tending to the veggies and roses and chickens and goats, and mystery shopping. After living through the social upheaval of the late 60's-early 70s, I now just putter along enjoying my life.

I believe "Japed" probably is racial and that it is a derogatory term referring to our WWII Asian enemies. IMO it means sneaky or underhanded and originated from the Pearl Harbor attack. Ghosting, on the other hand, again IMO, is a cowardly act of someone who wants to break a relationship and doesn't have the courage to face the former friend, lover, mate. Perhaps closer to ghosting is another term that originated in the military - "Dear John letter".

The current trend of dancing in TV commercials. WTH? They dance about clothes, lawyers, tax refunds, cell phones & service, food and all kinds of stuff that are not dance- related. How stupid is this?

Jape means joke or mock. If it were racial it would have 2 "P"s , I would think.

I was thinking the same thing. With 1 "p" it hymes with "tape" so I would have never considered it. I'd never heard of it before this thread anyway.

Gnarly! I can, like, totally pick up the kids' newfangled lingo and be phat again. This is so radical. Now, I won't have to have a cow and bounce when they tell me stories - 'cuz I'll get them. This thread is so choice.

"Jape" seems to have a several meanings.. Yes, it can be a "prank." However, apparently it can also be used as an insult to African-American folks. I did not know that one......

"Woke" is sometimes used both positively and negatively. My understanding is that it started out with very positive implications, along the lines of "being aware of and sensitive to current issues, especially as they relate to social injustice." However, as it has become trendy to be "woke," some folks have become more concerned with being "woke" than taking the time to understand the social issues themselves and have developed a level of militancy in the way they attempt to help everybody else to be more "woke."

At my school, we have a crew of younger teachers who are very concerned with being "woke" and attempt to dominate discussions as we discuss issues in education around addressing discrepancies in the academic performance of students from different demographic backgrounds. ("Closing the Achievement Gap" is a common topic in public schools.) In their dominance, they shut other folks down, to the point of being degrading. (As an example: A more seasoned teacher raised her hand at a staff meeting a couple of months ago and said, "This issue is pretty deep and we are just starting to have a good conversation about it. Could we have more time to discuss it at a later time?" The response from the "woke" teacher (a white lady) was, "That's just your white privilege talking."

My point: "Woke," I believe, started out as a term with more positive connotations. However, as it has become "cool" to be woke, more folks claim to be "woke" without really taking the time to understand the very important social issues about which they are vociferously preaching. In other words, they are more concerned about being one of the "woke" crowd than actually being "woke," which prevents them from accepting new information and developing a more full understanding of the very injustices they claim to champion. This has given to the use of "woke" as being a derogatory term as well.

@sestrahelena wrote:

Jape means joke or mock. If it were racial it would have 2 "P"s , I would think.

You arer right, 2 "p"s. And if that is the word shopper8 is referring to it is derogatory. I was unfamiliar with the word jape.

This is perhaps the best explanation of the different dynamics of being "woke" I have ever heard.

@MFJohnston wrote:

"Jape" seems to have a several meanings.. Yes, it can be a "prank." However, apparently it can also be used as an insult to African-American folks. I did not know that one......

"Woke" is sometimes used both positively and negatively. My understanding is that it started out with very positive implications, along the lines of "being aware of and sensitive to current issues, especially as they relate to social injustice." However, as it has become trendy to be "woke," some folks have become more concerned with being "woke" than taking the time to understand the social issues themselves and have developed a level of militancy in the way they attempt to help everybody else to be more "woke."

At my school, we have a crew of younger teachers who are very concerned with being "woke" and attempt to dominate discussions as we discuss issues in education around addressing discrepancies in the academic performance of students from different demographic backgrounds. ("Closing the Achievement Gap" is a common topic in public schools.) In their dominance, they shut other folks down, to the point of being degrading. (As an example: A more seasoned teacher raised her hand at a staff meeting a couple of months ago and said, "This issue is pretty deep and we are just starting to have a good conversation about it. Could we have more time to discuss it at a later time?" The response from the "woke" teacher (a white lady) was, "That's just your white privilege talking."

My point: "Woke," I believe, started out as a term with more positive connotations. However, as it has become "cool" to be woke, more folks claim to be "woke" without really taking the time to understand the very important social issues about which they are vociferously preaching. In other words, they are more concerned about being one of the "woke" crowd than actually being "woke," which prevents them from accepting new information and developing a more full understanding of the very injustices they claim to champion. This has given to the use of "woke" as being a derogatory term as well.

What I stated about being japed (not sure of spelling) meant to us that you just didn't show up. Never thought of it in any other way. I was in my teens which would have been the late 50s and 60s.

Thank you. Now I can "smh" at some of the stuff I hear and see.

On the subject of trends, how about we gang up on all the TV show directors until they remove graphic scenes of vomiting, men taking 'the stance' over the urinal, people brushing their teeth then spitting into the sink, or having the guy or gal roll off the top of their bed mate. All of these in network shows seen routinely, usually well before most kids bedtimes. Really, some things are better left to the imagination!

"Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice."