Chic-ly smart in Japanese

[reneeT]

What do you say to describe a chic, smart little outfit? (think: Little boy in a bow-tie)! Not kawaii... it's something else. I can't remember.

 

[Toritoribe]

Oshare? ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ

 

[reneeT]

@Toritoribe: Mmmm... not so recently coined a word. My Japanese-speaking mom would use this word in the 60's into the 80's. Its connotation is to be very well put-together (neat, smart), and chic and cute at the same time. Might well be the equivalent of what we used to call a "snappy" dresser in American English. Any other ideas?

 

[Toritoribe]

How about "iki"? Or, more simply "kakkoii".

 

[Mike Cash]

ダンディー perhaps?

......

 

[reneeT]

Mike, can you romanize?

 

[Mike Cash]

"dandy"

......

 

[reneeT]

I meant phonetic pronunciation; sorry...

 

[Toritoribe]

ダンディー[Dandii] is the transliteration of the English word "dandy".

 

[reneeT]

Oh, I get it. Hm, still nothing ringing a bell, though. I had always remembered it as Mou tai nai, but I just learned that that is a phrase for when something shouldn't be wasted, right?

 

[Toritoribe]

That's "Mottai nai".

Another one I can think of is "inase", it's rarely used in these days, though.

 

[Mike Cash]

Oh, I get it. Hm, still nothing ringing a bell, though. I had always remembered it as Mou tai nai, but I just learned that that is a phrase for when something shouldn't be wasted, right?

Exactly. Think about it a bit and you will probably see for yourself how it fits. It is functionally the equivalent of "If only I were XX years younger!" that we use in English to express admiration for the attractiveness of someone whose age is so much younger than our own that a romantic relationship is out of the question.

 

[reneeT]

Ha! Good analogy. How might someone use "koiki" in a complimentary way about someone's appearance?

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, it works. "Ko" is a prefix meaning "small/little", so "koiki" literally means "a bit iki". Haven't you seen "iki" in my second post?

 

[Mike Cash]

Ha! Good analogy.

It wasn't meant as an analogy. It was an explanation of the sense in which "mottainai" is used. It does NOT have a universal meaning of "cute", "attractive", "stylish", etc and depending on the situation could even be taken as an INSULT, so please don't think it is something appropriate to throw around willy-nilly as a compliment.