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Essay

【No. 0817】Heto Heto

Mar 14, 2017 22:56
Today I participated in an academic conference.

Several students that I taught planned to do their poster presentations, and I planned to go the venue as an accompanying person of them.

However, two of them were absent, so I had to do poster presentations on behalf of them.

Since one poster session took one and a half hours, I explained their studies patiently for a total of three hours.

Now I am a state of "heto heto."

"Heto heto" is a term that means an exhausted condition, but the etymology isn't clear.

A theory insists that "heto heto" comes from the last two characters of "i ro ha ni ho he to," which is a traditional Japanese poem called "Iroha Uta."
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【No. 0816】Moshi Moshi (Hello)

Mar 13, 2017 00:24
Today I would like to talk about the expression "moshi moshi," which is often used on a daily basis.

"Moshi moshi" is used when you want to address someone, especially make a call.

This expression comes from a verb "mousu," which means "to talk from now."

Formerly, "mousu mousu" and "moushimasu moushimasu" were used by repeating "mousu," but now it's called "moshi moshi" for short.

Incidentally, another expression "oi oi" was used when telephones were opened at first in Japan.

However, since "oi oi" was a little rude expression used by men, before long it was no longer in use.

【No. 0815】Watches

Mar 12, 2017 01:32
I bought a wrist watch at an outlet mall yesterday.

It was a little expensive, but I'm quite satisfied because I could bought my favorite design on sale.

According to the British institution YouGov, more than half of people between 16 to 34 use mobile phones as a way of knowing the time.

Also, according to a questionnaire survey by a Japanese company, about one third business people between 20s to 30s go work without wearing watches.

It is thought that the number of young people who don't wear watches has rapidly increased due to the spread of mobile phones.

In fact, I normally didn't wear a watch very much.

However, recently somehow I came to have an urge of wearing good watches.

Someday I would like to buy a more classy watch.
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【No. 0814】Neko (Cat)

Mar 11, 2017 12:52
Today I will talk about the Japanese word "neko," which means "cat."

There are several etymologies, but widely accepted ones are the following:

・Abbreviation of "nekoma"

It is said that originally neko was called "nekoma," and it became to "neko" for short.

As the reason why it was called nekoma, there are several theories -- one is that "ma," which means "beast" was attached to "neko," which is an abbreviation of "yoku neru ko" (a child who get a good sleep) .

・Deformation of the sound of a cat

Formerly in Japan, we referred to the sound of a cat as "neu neu."

It is also said that by attaching "ko," which is a suffix word that represents familiarity, to the "ne" of "neu neu," the word "neko" was born.
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【No. 0812】Sanbyoshi Sorou

Mar 9, 2017 16:31
Today I will talk about the Japanese term "sanbyoshi sorou."

The literal meanings is "three beats get together," and it means that three or all necessary conditions are equipped.

In Nou music, a traditional Japanese art, three percussion instruments are used -- kozutsumi (small hand drum), ookawa (knee drum), and taiko (stick drum).

When beats by these instruments get together, a good harmonious performance is given, so this term was born.

For example, if you use this term for a baseball player, it will mean that the player has three excellent abilities -- running, batting, and defence.

This word is often used as good meanings, but you can use it to mean bad elements, such as drinking, gambling, and trafficking women.
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【No. 0811】Kechon Kechon

Mar 8, 2017 11:26
Today I will talk about the Japanese phrase "kechon kechon."

"Kechon kechon" means to harm or punish someone thoroughly.

It is said that this word comes from a dialect of Wakayama prefecture "kechoni," meaning "very" or "extremely."

There are several etymologies of "kechoni" -- it comes from "kechi," meaning "stingy," comes from a word of the Genji Monogatari in Heian period, and so on, but the correct derivation has not been cleared yet.

Also, when the dialect "kechoni" spread all over Japan, it came to changed "kechon kechon."

"Kechon kechon" is a little violent expression, but I thinkt the sound is cute.
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【No. 0810】Akkanbe (Cook a Snook)

Mar 7, 2017 07:55
Today I will talk about the Japanese term "akkanbe."

"Akkabe" is used when you want to tease or provoke someone, and it is often accompanied by a physical action.

Specifically, the action is that you pull your lower eyelid down, and put your tongue out.

Originally, it was "akame," which means "red eye," because a red region of your eye is exposed when you pull your eyelid down.

Then it came to change to "akanbe" or "akkanbe."

Note that this expression is basically used by children.

Incidentally, according to my dictionary, "akanbe" is translated into "to cock a snook" :-P
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【No. 0809】Mi mo Futa mo Nai

Mar 6, 2017 08:25
Today I'd like to talk about the Japanese phrase "mi mo futa mo nai."

"Mi mo futa mo nai" means that your expression is brutally honest, and it contain neither connotations nor feelings.

It also means to end talk due to such a frank expression.

"Mi" means "container," "futa" means "lid," so the literal meaning of "mi mo futa mo nai" is "there is neither containers nor lids."

If there is neither container nor lids, the contents will be exposed.

Based on this thought, "mi mo futa mo nai" came to mean that something is too frank or brutally honest.
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【No. 0808】Naruhodo (I see)

Mar 5, 2017 09:52
Today I will talk about the Japanese term "naruhodo."

"Naruhodo" is a helpful phrase that is used when you express your thought of agreeing or satisfying with someone's opinion.

"Naru" of "naruhodo" means "establish," "hodo" means "limit," and "naruhodo" originally meant "as much as possible."

It is thought that this became to mean "obvious," then changed to the meaning of "indeed."

Incidentally, there is an Internet slang phrase (joke) "naruhodo, wakaran," which means "I see, I don't understand."

This phrase is used when you can't understand expositions due to difficult terms/phrases, even if they are explained in detail.
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【No. 0807】Bibiru (To Be Scared)

Mar 4, 2017 09:15
Today I will talk about the Japanese term "bibiru."

"Bibiru" means to be scared or feel intimidated.

We often regard this word as a slang term that is used by young people, but actually this word has been used since the Heian period.

Originally, "bibiru" was "bibiru oto" (bibiru sound), and it referred to chattering sounds arising from armors when numerous army moved.
(The onomatopoeia of the sound was "binbin.")

Also, it is said that an army ran away by considering sounds of birds flying off at once as enemy's "bibiru sound."

From this story, "bibiru" became to be used to mean to be scared.
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【No. 0806】Kubi (Dismissal)

Mar 3, 2017 11:44
Today I will talk about the slang term "クビ (kubi)."

"クビ" is Katakana form of a kanji character "首," which means "neck," and if you write the kanji in Katakana or Hiragana, it often means "dismissal/displacement."

For example:
"Kubi ni natta." (This literal meaning is "I became a neck," and it expressed "I was fired.")

"Kimi wa kubi da." (This literal meaning is "You are a neck," and it expressed "You're fired.")

In the Edo period in Japan, criminals were cut their necks using Japanese swords.

By identifying such executions with displacements, "kubi wo kiru" (to cut a neck) came to mean to dismiss someone.

Furthermore, just "kubi" (neck) came to mean "dismissal."

I think that these terms are similar to "get axed" or "get the ax" in English.
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【No. 0805】Butsu (Stuff)

Mar 2, 2017 21:01
Today I will talk about the slang term "butsu."

"Butsu" is one of pronunciations of "物," which means "things," and it is used as a pronoun to indicate some kind of things literally

When you want to refer to general things, "物" is read as "mono," but if you read it as "butsu" in on-yomi (Chinese readings), it will mean "antisocial things" or "illegal things" in most cases.

For example, there are drugs, stimulants, guns, and etc. as subjects that are called "butsu."

Also, "薬," which means drugs or medicine, is usually read as "kusuri," but if you read it as "yaku" in on-yomi, it will especially mean illicit drugs or stimulants.
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【No. 0804】Rasubosu (Final Boss)

Mar 1, 2017 10:57
Today I will talk about the slang term "rasubosu."

"Rasubosu" is the abbreviation of "last boss," and it means a boss character that comes out on the final stage of computer games.

For example, it is Bowser in Mario series, or Ganondorf in Zelda series.

Since it is very difficult to beat rasubosu down, this word is also used in the meaning of "the last and most difficult hurdle" or "very strong competitor."

For your information, some Internet users refer singer Kobayashi Sachiko as "rasubosu."

This is because she sings at the end of the famous year-end TV program "Kohaku Uta Gassen" wearing very showy (and powerful-looking) clothing.

If you are interested in it, try to search with the keywords "小林幸子 ラスボス" on Google Images.
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【No. 0803】Pochiru (Pressing a Buy Button)

Feb 28, 2017 10:11
Today I will talk about the Japanese Internet slang term "pochiru."

"Pochiru" means to press a buy button on online shopping stores.

Usage example: "Amazon de Kindle wo pochitta." (I bought a Kindle on Amazon.)

In Japanese, there is an onomatopoeic word "pochi," that is used when you press a button or switch.

"Pochiru" was born by attaching "ru" to "pochi," where "ru" is the suffix word which verbalizes substantives.
(Therefore, "pochi" is written in Katakana and "ru" is written in Hiragana, like ポチる.)

According to this origin, "pochiru" should mean to press a button, but in most cases, it refers to buy goods on the Internet.
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【No. 0802】Sad Premium Friday

Feb 27, 2017 11:17
Two days ago, I wrote about the introduction of Premium Friday in Japan.

It is a kind of campaigns that recommend finishing your work at 3 p.m. and promote personal consumption by the Japanese government and financial circles.

However, there were about 120 companies that introduced Premium Friday and let employees go home early.

The number is only 0.1 % of all Japanese companies.

A company says that there is not much point in going home early on Premium Friday because overtime at other days will be increase.

Some net users complain that this day was born for true premium citizens, that is, high-ranked citizens.
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【No. 0801】801 (Yaoi)

Feb 26, 2017 13:59
Day before yesterday, the number of entries on Lang-8 reached 800.

Thus I posted the 801st entry yesterday.

The number "801" is sometimes used to mean products for women focusing on homosexuality between male characters.

In this case, "801" is called "yaoi."

This word is composed of initial characters of three elements that frequently occurs in doujinshi (coterie magazine) -- "Yama-nashi (No peak)," "Ochi-nashi (No fall)," and "Imi-nashi (No meaning)."

Originally it expressed only poor quality manga, and didn't contain homosexual meaning.

However, recently it has changed to a word that mainly means products of boys' love.

I think that "801" is similar to "slash fiction" in the West.
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【No. 0800】Premium Friday

Feb 25, 2017 14:53
Yesterday was Premium Friday.

Premium Friday is a day for prompting personal consumption that was advocated by the Japanese government and financial circles.

Specifically, it is recommended that you finish your work at 3 p.m. on month-end Friday, and enjoy shopping or traveling from the evening.

In that day, many restaurants and travel agencies practiced various discount campaigns.

Yesterday, February 24, 2017 was the first enforcement day of Premium Friday, and it will be enforced once two months, six times a year.

As a side note, I participated in a meeting from 3 p.m yesterday -- I had nothing to do with that day at all.
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【No. 0799】Tameguchi (Casual Talk)

Feb 24, 2017 12:15
Today I would like to talk about the Japanese slang "tameguchi."

"Tameguchi" means a way of talking that doesn't contain polite expressions in Japanese conversation.

Originally "tame" was a gambling term that meant repeated digits on dice, and it came to be used to mean "equal basis" or "same age" among young people since around 1960s.

By attaching "kuchi," meaning a way of talking, to the "tame," the slang "tameguchi" was born.

Recently in Japan, the number of young people who can't use polite expressions appropriately is increasing.

Please be careful not to use "tameguchi" to older people and strangers.
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【No. 0798】Detarame

Feb 23, 2017 13:10
Today I will talk about the Japanese word "detarame."

"Detarame" means incoherent, disorganized, or irresponsible things.

This word has been used since the Edo period, and it is thought that this was derived from gambling using dice.

The theory is something like the following:

The literal meaning of "me" of "detarame" is "eyes," and it means the number of spots on dice.

Also, "detarame" is the abbreviation form of "detara sono me," which means "depending on the number of spots on dice."

That is to say, it expresses that you say/do something irresponsible depending on dice.

It can be written as "出鱈目" in kanji, but "鱈" (meaning Pacific cod) is a phonetic equivalent, and fish isn't related to this word.
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【No. 0797】Zu ni Noru

Feb 22, 2017 15:36
Today I will talk about the Japanese idiom "zu ni noru."

"Zu ni noru" means to get carried away or get cocky.

Where "zu" means modulation in a Buddhist hymn "seinmyo," and "noru" means "to ride."

Originally, "zu ni noru" meant to change modulation well while reciting the hymn.

Since the modulation was difficult, it came to mean that things go well, then it has come to have the current meanings described above.

Both "zu ni noru" and "choshi ni noru" ("choshi" means "condition") have the similar meaning like "get carried away," but "zu ni noru" is mainly used in bad meaning, while "choshi ni noru" is used both good and bad meanings.