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Or is it just a neutral term for tidal waves?

(I'm considering naming a JavaScript library tsunami.js – would it be offensive?)

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    I don't think it'd be any more offensive than the famous 神奈川沖浪裏.
    – istrasci
    Sep 6, 2013 at 22:20
  • @istrasci, thanks! Maybe I should call it okinami.js (just to be safe).
    – katspaugh
    Sep 7, 2013 at 1:02
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    I heard about a twitter client called earthquake and thought "Why would someone call something that?", but it was built by Japanese people in response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
    – Andrew Grimm
    Sep 7, 2013 at 5:23

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I would say "not necessarily"; but, it definitely doesn't have positive connotations...

One might think of it as <= 0.

Update

Hmm, evidence? Well, the word "earthquake" is definitely not a positive word by itself, right? It has more neutral or negative connotations (i.e.,<= 0). But, I don't know how to provide evidence of that...

There is a word, アクセス津波 (access tsunami), which is when there are a lot of site views/accesses in a short period. When used in this sense, I guess the blog owner would be happy :)

At any rate, I don't think you'll realistically be offending many people by using "tsunami" (unless your project is destructive, obviously).

By the way, what will your project be doing?

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  • Thanks! I hoped for some evidence but your opinion matters, too.
    – katspaugh
    Sep 7, 2013 at 1:04
  • Answer updated :)
    – execjosh
    Sep 7, 2013 at 1:56
  • If the word is sometimes used figuratively and represents the concept of power/energy/abundance, it's OK for me to use as well (the project is a waveform visualization). Thank you!
    – katspaugh
    Sep 7, 2013 at 2:20

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