Poka (ぽか - A Careless Mistake)

Previously, I introduced you to the onomatopoeia poka poka (ぽかぽか), which represents comfortable warmth that you feel.

However, if you say just poka (ぽか), it would become a noun that means a failure or mistake caused by carelessness.

Poka was originally a term of shogi (将棋 - a Japanese board game resembling chess) or go (碁 - a Chinese board game), which means a bad move that would make it impossible to recover.

Later, this term has come to be used to mean just "failure" or "mistake."

I have no idea why it is called poka, but it could relate to pokan (ぽかん), which is an onomatopoeia that represents a blank stare or getting a hole suddenly.

【Example sentence】
Daiji na bamen de hidoi poka wo shita (大事な場面でひどいぽかをした - I made a careless and terrible mistake at a crucial moment).

ぽか

以前私は、心地よい暖かさを表す擬態語「ぽかぽか」を紹介しました。

もし「ぽか」のように単独で使ったら、それは「不注意などで生じた失敗や失策」を意味する名詞となります。

もともとこの言葉は、将棋や囲碁の用語で、挽回が不可能になってしまうような悪手を打つことを意味していました。

これが、囲碁や将棋に限らず「失敗」を意味する言葉になったというわけです。

なぜ「ぽか」と言うのかは調べてもわかりませんでしたが、ぼんやりをした状態や何かに急に穴があくさまを表す擬態語「ぽかん」と関係があるかもしれません。

【使用例】
大事な場面でひどいぽかをしてしまった。

• Poka (ぽか - A Careless Mistake)
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Previously, I introduced you to the onomatopoeia poka poka (ぽかぽか), which represents comfortable warmth that you feel.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• However, if you say just poka (ぽか), it would become a noun that means a failure or mistake caused by carelessness.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Poka was originally a term of shogi (将棋 - a Japanese board game resembling chess) or go (碁 - a Chinese board game), which means a bad move that would make it impossible to recover.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Later, this term has come to be used to mean just "failure" or "mistake."
• Later, this term has coame to be used to mean just "failure" or "mistake."

• I have no idea why it is called poka, but it could relate to pokan (ぽかん), which is an onomatopoeia that represents a blank stare or getting a hole suddenly.
• I have no idea why it is called poka, but it could relate to pokan (ぽかん), which is an onomatopoeia that represents a blank stare or getting a hole suddenly.

  I'm not sure about what you mean by "getting a hole"

• 【Example sentence】
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Daiji na bamen de hidoi poka wo shita (大事な場面でひどいぽかをした - I made a careless and terrible mistake at a crucial moment).
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

Thank you for sharing! This was really interesting! You write very well