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[EDICT-based](http://www.edrdg.org/jmdict/edict.html) dictionaries mark the
word やじ馬 (野次馬) for "onlookers, street crowd, or rubbernecks" as _sensitive_.

I cannot find the word in the 放送禁止用語 lists and [Wikipedia
page](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%8E%E6%AC%A1%E9%A6%AC) also does not
seem to mention any particular warnings on usage.

So my question is: is it really sensitive and to what degree?

Would it be offensive against someone who was a member of street gathering? Or
would it generally be bad taste to use the word in a semi-official situation,
just relating the story "there was an accident and huge crowd gathered"?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-07T09:22:22.520
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2015-09-07T13:41:20.820
2015-09-07T13:41:20.820
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question
words slang offensive-words
Is the word 野次馬 offensive?
It's not prohibited to use in public, though it's not necessarily an objective
expression and has negative nuance because it means people who gather at
incidents with casual curiosity. In that point, 人だかり etc. will be safer.

If you address a certain person as 野次馬, it'd sound offensive to him/her, but
on the other hand, it's not particularly a problem to use it for the case of
"there was an accident and huge crowd gathered".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-07T10:18:22.190
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2015-09-07T10:18:22.190
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answer