Is the word 'Turk' offensive?

Question

I have heard people use it but it doesn't sound right.

Answer 1

Turk meaning person of Turkish decent is not necessarily offencive.

Answer 2

The word Turk was not coined as an insult, like Frog or j*p or even Yankee, and it remains the word used for a person who is from Turkey.  What else is there, unless you wanted to coin a new word, like Turkishman or Turkeyan?  If it were an insult, the Young Turks (in Turkish, Jön Türkler), would have called themselves something else.

Answer 3

The same as c***k, p**i and j*p. All terms considered by most as offensive.

Answer 4

Any descriptive term can be used offensively you stupid user!

Sorry, seriously though, I think that is the fundamental problem of the whole "society vs offensiveness" campaign. We don't want to offend people, but instead of doing difficult things like examining our beliefs, identifying our prejudices, and working to overcome our differences, we instead just declare one descriptive term after another to be offensive.

To me, it's rather like trying to deal with a persistent online vandal by banning his account each time he does something wrong, but never making any attempt to stop him from signing up again with a different account. Your problem never really goes away, it just takes on a slightly different appearance.

Answer 5

Like most words it depends how it is being used.

At first I thought of a reference to the Turks. A people of a country but the word may carry another meaning where you are.

If it was used such as, He looks like a Turk. It may imply that Turkish people are not liked in your area, or mistrusted.

Need more info. Could ask is the word p***s offensive. All depends how its used.

Answer 6

I lived in Germany for two years and figured out that Italians, Greeks, Turks, Arabs, etc were all Turks so even though it may not be meant as offensive, it seems offensive to me.

Answer 7

It used to be turkey.  But in general the 'Turks' (Turkish) were without honor and were really nasty.  Well wait a minute they still are.