- 14 Mar 2002
- 21,053
- 18,908
What are Japan's teens on about?
Why do Japan's teens sound so incomprehensible these days?
The 1,423-page "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki" (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words) recently came out with its 2003 edition, which devotes five full pages to the latest patois.
Many of the new terms it lists are made by creating contractions, so that kimochi ga warui (unpleasant or disagreeable) becomes kimoi, and muzukashii (difficult) is shortened to muzui.
If you are a person so self-absorbed as to be annoyingly inconsiderate -- such as people who sip coffee while riding a jam-packed commuter train -- that makes you a jikochu, short for jikochushin.
Another popular means of communicating is to form verbs from the name of a business.
If you invite a friend to sutabaru, it means to patronize Starbucks. Likewise, you can find teens who makuru over to McDonald's, dotoru at Doutour, deniru at Denny's and misudo at Mister Donut.
By the same token, biniru means to go to a convenience store. The teens who squat on their haunches outside such establishments late into the night are referred to as ga (moths), i.e., are brainlessly attracted to the light within.
A hamasuta is not a pet rodent, but means to watch a sporting event at Yokohama Stadium.
Note, however, that to visit Tokyo Disneyland is referred to as nezumi shibaku (literally, to flog the mouse).
Finally, the English suffix "er" (pronounced aa) is frequently applied to people with certain quirky habits.
Those who smear their food with mayonnaise and catsup are referred to respectively as mayoraa and kechappaa. A geemaa (gamer) hangs around a game arcade.
The latest teen lingo often relates to the Internet or IT (Information Technology). A meru tomo is a friend to whom one transmits messages to one's meruado (mail address), while yameeru means to break off a relationship via e-mail.
=> The Japan Times Online
Why do Japan's teens sound so incomprehensible these days?
The 1,423-page "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki" (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words) recently came out with its 2003 edition, which devotes five full pages to the latest patois.
Many of the new terms it lists are made by creating contractions, so that kimochi ga warui (unpleasant or disagreeable) becomes kimoi, and muzukashii (difficult) is shortened to muzui.
If you are a person so self-absorbed as to be annoyingly inconsiderate -- such as people who sip coffee while riding a jam-packed commuter train -- that makes you a jikochu, short for jikochushin.
Another popular means of communicating is to form verbs from the name of a business.
If you invite a friend to sutabaru, it means to patronize Starbucks. Likewise, you can find teens who makuru over to McDonald's, dotoru at Doutour, deniru at Denny's and misudo at Mister Donut.
By the same token, biniru means to go to a convenience store. The teens who squat on their haunches outside such establishments late into the night are referred to as ga (moths), i.e., are brainlessly attracted to the light within.
A hamasuta is not a pet rodent, but means to watch a sporting event at Yokohama Stadium.
Note, however, that to visit Tokyo Disneyland is referred to as nezumi shibaku (literally, to flog the mouse).
Finally, the English suffix "er" (pronounced aa) is frequently applied to people with certain quirky habits.
Those who smear their food with mayonnaise and catsup are referred to respectively as mayoraa and kechappaa. A geemaa (gamer) hangs around a game arcade.
The latest teen lingo often relates to the Internet or IT (Information Technology). A meru tomo is a friend to whom one transmits messages to one's meruado (mail address), while yameeru means to break off a relationship via e-mail.
=> The Japan Times Online