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Maybe this will help you:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Paki

Starting with the very first sentence under "Usage notes".

In summary, a strict prefix of some place name or nationality is not automatically a harmless contraction. For instance, "Jap" is not a word which has exactly the same nuance as "person of Japanese descent".

Fair enough, but it's not a US-centric thing (which is the bulk of YC companies), so I highly doubt that "fired a synapse" for the founders when they came up with the name.

When the Pakistan cricket team tours down here in Australia, they're colloquially referred to as "the Pakis", but that's because we colloquialise EVERYTHING, and has nothing to do with slurring anybody.

Neal Stephenson writes about this in one of his books -- not sure which. A character wonders why "Brit" or "Ausie" are acceptable, while "Jap" or "Paki" are not.

He doesn't mention the use of the word Paki by neo-nazi far-right racists.

Edit: in the UK it's almost always a slur. I can see how in other places it's just an abbreviation.

If you're going to downvote this, at least respond. I was asking a genuine question.