Japanese Slang: I Like a Little Meat on My Grass

This post's title had so much potential for naughty puns, but I'm avoiding that for grandma's sake, who still writes to ask when I'm getting back from Japan. Recently, Invisiblegaijin told me that if I make it to 7 years, I'm here for life. He would know, he's been here long enough to be my Japanese grandma.

So, right, some kind of intro that actually has something to do with the slang terms today. Okay, before I introduce today's actual slang term, I have to cover two older ones that you may know, so bear with me. Last year everyone was running around yelling about the invasion of the herbivorous men (草食系男子 soushoku-kei danshi) and annoyingly translating the term as grass-eating men on their so totally non-hack blogs (I luv you guyssss!). Here is a herbivorous man:

When I see the sun I think of the rising sun flag and by extension all the uncomfortable comfort women...

Herbivorous men reportedly just want to talk about episodes of Trading Spaces. On the other side of the manliness spectrum, we have the meat eaters (肉食系男子 nikushoku-kei danshi), who actively pursue women, but not in the way of the safe guy you will eventually settle for and I HOPE YOU ARE HAPPY ABOUT THAT, STACIE, BECAUSE YOU BROKE THE HOPELESS ROMANTIC'S HEART AND HE WILL NEED TIME BEFORE HE CAN FORGIVE. I'm sorry... I didn't mean that. Please come back! Please?

Oh, so here is a meat eater guys pic:

Ve are so manly that ve will never regret these stupid sketches nor our insensitive comfort women jokes.

Right, you have the picture. Then this year we have our word of the day: omnivorous man (雑食系男子 zasshoku-kei danshi). What's his deal? Well, he's just kinda not either extreme. He may be kind enough to wash your car, but he will be making rude innuendos the whole time he's washing the headlights. Also, sans-the man bit, this term existed as a slang word before 2010, and meant person of various hobbies. This means it is a doubly safe word to describe yourself as on a date.

Okay, post over, girly internet boys. I am off to find a 肉食系熟女.

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Japanese Slang: The Deer that Turned Away

Okay that title is horrible, because it's fish that get away, but let's ignore that and carry on.



See the deer in this image? This is from a Japanese card game called hanafuda. The deer (shika) shows up on the card for the tenth (tou) month, and from the we got shikatou (鹿十） which went through a phonetic change to shikato (シカト) over the years.

Now, you already know this if you can also read the description on the image, but shikato means to ignore something, because the deer looks like it is turning it's head away. More accurately, it seems to be used like snub in English.

You may have also caught that this was a "chivalrous" word. Yeah, in Japan, chivalry is something a romantic yakuza would use, so this was once underworld slang. Gogen says it was gamblers' cant. That's not really surprising, as hanafuda have a long history of being used in yakuza gambling dens. The zokugojiten says it spread throughout the delinquent world, until everyone was using it.

Finally, it seems to be a good word to use for being turned down when you are out nampaing, as this YouTube video shows:


So it is neither deer nor fish, but the birds that get away. Unless you are a dog. Wanna 'nother animal in this post? Get this, since the crane (tsuru) on the first (ichi) month's card is also turning away, sometimes tsuruichi is substituted for shikato, but only by someone that is probably making a mistake as a joke.

Usage examples I found and took a stab at glossing:

しかとうとぼける [old example] gloss: turn one's head, whistle a little tune, and play dumb.
しかとしよう gloss: Forget about that creep.
しかとかよ gloss: Hey, who do you think you are ignoring?!
しかとすんなよ gloss: Don't you walk away from me!
ツルイチされた! gloss: I had an endearing conversation with the hand.

Japanese Study Links

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Japanese Slang: Sagging Pants Kill Dreams

Olympic dreams that is. I don't watch sporting events, even the Olympics, but escaping news of the pants-sagging scandal was impossible if you live in Japan. In Japan, they call sagged pants 腰パン (koshi-pan) which is made from the words koshi (hip) and pan (pants). Another slang word for this, when it is unintentional, is ハミパン (hami-pan, from hamiwoderu [jut out of bounds] and pantie).

The scandal was centered around a snowboarder who--shock!-- looks like a snowboarder, named Kazuhiro Kokubo. He showed up at the airport with a loose tie and pants and Japan went into hyper-conservative spasms. Look at this shocking video, complete with his half-assed (see what I did there?) apology, "Hasei shima~su" (yeah, I'm totally reflecting on my actions). It got him bared from the opening ceremony later.

Japanese Study Links

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Karaoke | J Commercials | Let's Yoji!

A Manzai Greeting is Catching On

According to Pink tentacle's explanation of this year's Top Japanese Phrases, トゥース! (tuusu, a greeting of some sort) is pretty popular this year, thanks to the manzai duo Audrey. So I thought I would introduce them to you with this conveniently-subtitled Nintendo DS-i commercial.



Speaking of comedian words, I still use "Sei! Sei! Sei!" It was given to us by Hardo Gay, and is kind of like "back off!". Oddly, nobody ever used it on him. Here's a conveniently English introduction for him in case you missed the pelvis thrusts of the mid aughts.

Japanese Slang: Salary Man Derivatives

I've noticed that マン (man, from the English) gets used in a lot of words over here. The most common word is サラリーマン (sarariiman) which I think is actually not slang (it's too common), but a set word for Japanese business men (and women) from the British English term salaried man. The ubiquity of salary men has led to the use of a lot of "riiman" getting affixed to other words and used as slang. Here's a few of the manly words.

Mega Salary Man Breakdown:

ザラリーマン: zara (common)+riman= a boring salary-man, like all the rest of them.
Nuance: can be used in self-derision

ヒラリーマン: hira (from 平社員, rank and file staff member)+riiman= a peon with no power at work.
History: this word got a boost when a politician, one the Koizumi Children, described himself as a former peon. "I'm just a small town girl that likes hockey and is looking forward to working with a political maverick," is the quote I think.
Alternate form: hirarii without the man

チャラリーマン: chara (from チャラチャラ, to show off)+riiman= a salary man that tries to pretend he is cool by wearing gaudy clothes and styling their trendy FF7 hair. They reserve a lot of their showing off for outside of work.
Alternate meaning: A salary-man commuting on his granny-bike (from ちゃりんこ).

モバリーマン: moba (mobile phone)+riiman=One of those dudes that can't put the phone or laptop down outside of work and relax.

Maybe I'll do a few more salary-man words some time, but for now, enjoy
Salary-man-man.


EDIT: Oh, care to add your own riiman words, Dear Reader?

Japanese Slang: With Karaoke Friends Like These...

One of the funner things to do in Japan is find a karaoke room and let loose. In America, my few karaoke experiences were open to the public (which was mostly hicks with handkerchiefs around their necks and other cowboy accouterments), so it's a very thankful thing to have just your buds with you when you belt one out. Today's slangy term is カラ友.

Karatomo Breakdown:

English gloss: karaoke friend
constructed from: kara+tomo
kara: from カラオケ (karaoke, which further breaks down to kara (empty) and oke (orchestra)
tomo: friend

Keep in mind karatomo could also mean "empty friend," but it doesn't ;-).
There is another couple of terms related to this. There is ヒトカラ (hitokara, going to karaoke not with friends, but hitori [alone]). There is also カラコン (karakon, a karaoke party). Do you recognize the kon part of that last term? It's related to a word I used last time, gōkon. Here is a karakon vid:


シャカリキボーイズ 投稿者 ROKUSASU0408

Yep it's the guys from yesterday. Here is another one (share my cheesy addiction):


[Japanese reference]

Japanese Slang: Ships in the Gōkon

Today's slangy term is こそアド

Breakdown:

English gloss: (noun) the secret exchanging of emails
assembled from: koso+ado
koso is from こっそり (kossori, stealthily)
ado is from メールアドレス (mēruadoresu, email)

So kosoado is exchanging phone emails on the sly. This usually happens at gōkon (singles mach-up parties), when you and your target have stolen away for a second of privacy. Another sound for stealth that also comes from kossori is こそこそ (kosokoso, the mimetic word for sneaking). It's a pretty humorous word to me, but then all gitaigo are.

Being a foreigner, I've never been invited to a gōkon myself. That would be a disaster: either everyone would focus on me and my amazing foreignness, or they would ignore me as they started talking fast, slangy Japanese and assumed I can't keep up. "No need for kosoado, the foreigner will never notice if we exchange mails right in front of him!"

So I bet you are wondering what a gōkon is. The following vid is an very accurate presentation of one. Only they exchange their mails openly.



And here is one with more party games:




[Japanese reference]

Japanese Slang: Like, for Now, Whatevs.

Quick, what do you say if you have just arrived in an izakaya and you are Japanese? Answer: とりえず生！(toriaezu nama, meaning "for now, give me a beer on tap!"). Toriaezu is a word that indicates that something may be for just now. For now, that beer is all you need, but in a little while, you will probably want a little more. Or a lot. Beer is the official starter among Japanese drinkers; they seem a little put off when I don't follow their toriaezu pattern.

But when you have to say, shucks, I guess the foreigner's foreigny foreign ways can't be helped, what do you say? Answer:　まぁ、しようがないな (maa, shiyouganai naa, meaning "Well , this can't be helped [silly foreign foreigner]"). The drawn out maa in this phrase signals resignation. Today's slang uses toriaezu and maa blended together, as とりま

Breakdown of とりま

Meaning: For now, meh/ it'll have to do I guess/this is crap, but... etc.

Components: From 取り敢えず (toriaezu, meaning for now or first of all) and まぁ/まあ (maa, well...)

Origin: The two terms were first mixed by girls in conversations, and from their it worked it's way into the internet to the point where any youngish person may use it.

Popularity: Pretty popular online. You may see it on blogs or on mixi in phrases like とりま日記 (torima nikki, meaning a little journal full of saccharine pics of my cat, but not me, because I, as a Japanese person, can't put my face online) or とりまプロフ (torima purofu, meaning the crappy profile I just threw together... I like movies! That's cool, right? Please somebody love me). Those are the literal translations.

Anyways, toriaezu, nama! Play us out, boys.

Japanese Slang: Gabbing Whore

You know how some people gather around the water cooler at work and gab away, maybe relating the Jay Leno monologue from the night before? Some of these water cooler people think they are regular comedians or something. This word feels of like an antiquated way to describe a similar situation. Working girls, standing around the tea-grinder, chatting about whatever prostitutes chatted about back then. おちゃっぴい (ochappi), today's slang, comes to you from a bygone age: the edo era.

おちゃっぴい Breakdown:

Meaning: A funny chatterbox (not a bad thing, despite the word's origins)

Components: From お茶 (ocha, tea) and 挽き (hiki is the noun form of hiku, to mill); both parts became hirigana, and hiki had its sound voiced and altered

Origin: Ladies in the red district used to grind tea leaves and gab while business was slow

Alternative forms: おちゃっぴー or おちゃっぴぃ (they seem appropriately feminine-sounding to me)

Popularity: Seems to be a dead word

碾 is another kanji with the meaning of grinding, and the same kun-reading (hi・ku), but 挽 seems to be used often for tools (like saws) more often. In any case, I don't think many people use these kanji often, so you will always see grind tea as お茶をひく. Here's a pic of a traditional tea grinder, or 石臼 (ishiusu):


[further reading in Japanese]

Japanese Slang: Shaddup You Face

Today's word is うざい (uzai), which I first encountered in the Trick Series. At first, I folk entymologized my way into thinking it was from the word 煩い (urusai: loud), but it actually comes from うざったい (uzatai: noisy, annoying, strict) , which comes from うざうざ (uzauza: repetitively saying/swarming--think bugging).
So if someone is bugging you with repetitious words, you can say that they are uzai. Other forms include uza and uze('e). It's a rather rude word (some people have even reportedly been killed over it), so be careful about using it. Urusai is safer, and used to the same effect: trying to get somebody to shut up.

Here's an example of usage from the latest Super Sentai* series:



[further reading]
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*Super Sentai are the Power Rangers in the English speaking world. This series has rangers with powers based on kanji of all things. Humanity comes up with some strange and uzai stuff to entertain its kids.

Japanese Slang: More Uniqlo Slang

You may recall when we explored yunibare, the word for when it slips out that you have been buying your clothes at the dasaiest of dasai clothing outlets. Here's another few words in that are related: ユニクローゼ (yunikurōze), ユニクラー(yunikurā) and ユニ隠し (yunikakushi).

Yunikurōze is a word for ladies that like shopping at Uniqlo (in Japanese unikuro). It's derived from the words Uniqlo (duh) and シロガネーゼ (shiroganēze, ladies that shop a lot in Tokyo), a slang word in its own right made from 白銀 (shirogane, silver and an area's name in Tokyo where these ladies live) and the Japanese pronunciation of Milanese: ミラネーゼ, (milanēze). Okay, so it's more like unikurōze isn't made from shiroganēze so much as imitating shiroganēze's imitation of an Italian word.

Yunikurā refers to the same thing as yunikurōze, but men can be in this category too. They took the yuniku from Uniqlo and added ラー, with is imitation of the English "er" that we put on words to make them into people (like work+er=worker etc). I'm lot aware if it is intentional or noticed by Japanese people, but it does sound like "yuni-cooler" to me.

Finally, yunikakushi means to try to cover up that you are wearing clothes from Uniqlo (read on a budget, read uncool). It is made from uniqlo and 隠し (kakushi, hide). If you don't ユニ隠し well enough, you will be ユニバレed. Or something. But Uniqlo is making efforts to seem really cool. "Like, I got this sweet music, guys. Watch me dance in my green hoody. Only 25 bucks! That's so cheap it's awesome. Hey, would you like a calendar? It's pretty cool..."


This is the weather for my town, but the pictures are from somewhere else. Actually, I kinda dig the music. Try clicking it on.
[J source]

Japanese Slang: S&M and... N?!

I knew I wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to make a naughty slang post sometime. I'm just gonna lay a few terms on your lap and let you deal with the moral ramifications of your knowledge.

You probably have heard S and M. These are KY-esque* abbreviations. S means "sadism" and M means "masochism". Just like English, these personality types don't necessarily relate to anything dirty, and many people freely talk about who is an S or an M in public.

A slightly new term in this vein is ドN (do-en). The "do" (pronounced like "d'oh", not like the English verb) part is a derogatory prefix that means "totally". You can also say ドS or ドM. The N part comes from "normal." Together: someone who is extremely normal. How can one be extremely normal? Or abnormally normal? My head spins thinking about it.

Here's another thought: some people put themselves down by saying they are ドN. But you know what putting yourself down is in Japanese? 自虐 (jigyaku). But you know what that translates to literally? Masochism. "I'm not an S, I'm totally boring and normal," he said in a masochistic tone.

The most famous ドN I can think of is Hito Nami (who's name means "average person") from Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei, who often yells 普通って言うな! (don't call me normal!) Obligatory video:

I may teach you some more naughty words next time.
[J reference]
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* Other talk of KY and such is in this post.

Japanese Slang: Dekofuku

There is a lot of slang that has sprung up around fashion. Previously, we talked about Uniqlo (unibare), fashionalable pets (usanpo), lacking makeup (SPY) and even fail-hats (posharu). We also explored the world of dazzling girls and their diamond studs (agejyou and dekoru).

デコ服 (dekofuku) is related to that last one. As previously found, deko comes from "decoration." The second part of the word, fuku, means clothes. Huh. Sounds kinda like a swear word when it's in romaji like that though. Anyways, dekofuku a little different from dekoru in that while dekoru usually refers to little plastic diamonds applied to things by glue, dekofuku refers to things you attach to you clothes, like buttons and brooches. That way, you can customize every outfit even if it is old. In these times of worldwide economic crisis, dekofuku is seen as a very good way to save money and yet stay stylish.

Of course, the first thing I thought of when I read about dekofuku was "flair."

[J reference]

Japanese Slang: This Hat is Made of Fail

Today's word is ポシャる. It means for someone's plans to get messed up when they are still half-realized. So lets do a breakdown already!

The Breakdown:
ポシャ: Comes from シャッポ（chapeau), which is the French word for hat. Also, it is reversed.
～る: A verbalizer (動詞化する接尾語 if you wanna get technical).
synonyms: おじゃんになる

The reason why hat was taken from French and then reversed and finally verbalized to come to mean spoiled plans is kind of unclear, but some think it has a relationship to the phrase シャッポを脱ぐ, which is to take of your hat off out of respect.
But anyways, the reversing, or partial reversing of words into slang is pretty common. I remember I did a post way back when I was still green to Japan about まいう (that one was featured on Japundit back then too, because I always had the makings of a Japan blogstar. Oh dear, all this bragging has ポシャらせた my post!) . There are also words like グラサン (reversed from sunglasses) and ワイハー(reversed from Hawaii)
You can find another example or two of a verbalized foreign originating ru-word by visiting a previous slang post I did.
As for usage, it seems to show up most often in past tense, which is not surprising. For example, "運動会は雨でポシャりましたが..."= "The school sports day was ruined by rain".

Japanes Slang: Big Hair and Blinging Accessories

I'm going to give you two related slang words today. First: アゲ嬢.

Breakdown--
age: comes from 小悪魔ageha, a fashion magazine (not a typo, that's the official name's appearance in print)
jyou: an honorific, basically the equivalent of "miss" or "young woman"

So an agejyou is a girl that follows the fashions in the magazine, which displays a lot of キャバクラ嬢, or hostess fashion. Agejyou girls look kind of trampy, overly made-up, pale (trying to look white), sport alien-looking eyes, and have freaky-long art-nails. Also, I have been in Japan too long, because I am starting to like it. Ageha needs support groups for the girls that follow it, as well as boys like me, apparently (we can call it Ageha Anonymous!). Segwayishly, I wonder if on the guy side of things there is a word for host fashion followers. That will be my homework for the next slang post, but Dear Reader is free to tell us in the comments.



On to the related word: Agejyou girls love their デコる. Or if I was going to say that in a grammatically correct way, I might have said デコり^[*]

instead, for デコる is a verb that means to decorate something with bling.

Breakdown--
deco: from デコレーション, decoration, though the native word is 飾る.
ru: This is something that gets slapped onto words sometimes to make them into conjugatable verbs. Another example is ググる (guguru, to google).

I have to admit that I am coming to like decoru as well! I mean, I have seen my fair share of tacky plastic diamonds glued to things in America, but they have elevated it to a true art form over here!
Here is a video tutorial that teaches you how to decoru your own cell phone:

--
bonus links on this subject:

An agejyou blog (scroll down for デコった calculators)

A big hair supporter, modeled by a classy white lady

Link to buy the dekoru mask. I should be payed for this... oh wait, you won't be buying one?

--
^[*]To further complicate things, the word started out as デコり and became デコる later, as you can see in the mask ad, dekori is still well present.

Japanes Slang: I like when you call me big papa

パパ came from English long ago, and is used by young kids to mean papa or daddy, as you would expect. But in modern society, it has taken on a slightly darker twist. Perhaps we would say "sugar-daddy" in English? *checks the internets* Well Wikipedia seems to agree and even references what I was about to mention: 援助交際 (enjokousai, compensated dating). Yeah, if the dirty old guy has money, the young girl has the time; a variation on the oldest profession. I find it interesting that the pic I found, displayed above, seems to indicate that the old man is jolly and the girl is the one with an evil expression. I think in really life it's more like, old man: lecherous look, girl: distressed/disgusted at what she is doing for the money to buy a designer bag.

One restriction: If the guy is not middle-aged or if he is near the girl's age, then papa won't be used in this sense.
[source]

Japanese Slang: walkin' the rabbit

Walkin' the rabbit. It sounds like a cheesy dance, but うさんぽ really does mean to take a rabbit on a walk, leash and all. It comes from two words, as most of the slang I cover does: 兎 (usagi=rabbit) and 散歩 (sanpo=walk).
Now if there is a word for it, that means it must be at least a little bit of a popular phenomenon. In fact, I joined a mixi group, half out of amusement, that had the name うさんぽ and 440 members. Most of those people have a rabbit for their profile pic it seems.
I say half out of amusement because I am actually considering buying a bunny. I was exploring my town one day and came across a rather ghetto shop full of chickens and rabbits, and it struck me that not only is a rabbit a cute animal that won't claw my furniture, but I can feed it all those scraps and extra vegetables I end up with. Half of my carrots alone always go bad because I never get to them in time. I asked one of my privates about it, and she warned that they have lots of stinky poo, so I am not convinced I want to go through with it...
Speaking of cute pets, I had a J girlfriend who had a chiwawa. Her family pampered that thing and put it in a different outfit everyday. Much to their chagrin and mine, it loved me more than anyone in the family. Anyways, here is a pampered bunny usanpo video:

[source]

Japanese Slang: Arakan

アラ還 means "around sixty" as in age. The breakdown: アラ=katakan shortening of English's "around". 還 comes from 還暦, "60th birthday".
This word was set up in 2006, when アラサン (around 30) became a buzzword, followed by アラフォー (around forty). I think these words may be used slightly derisively, to make fun of girls that can't admit to their real age, but don't quote me on that (this is where Dear Reader is free to jump in).
Come to think of it I am アラサン myself, but I also get the sense that these around words only are used for women...

Japanese Slang: SPY

"I know what spy means", you may be saying to yourself, but there is a new use for those three letters that reveals a bit about Japanese culture. Many ninjas died to bring us this post.

SPY is an acronym (pronounced スパイ). Much like the famous KY, that comes from the letters in a word, Suppin Yabakune. The first word, すっぴん means face without makeup. I believe ヤバくね means "~ is a little risky, in'it" or "best check your (face)" from the adjective やばい. Anyways, together I think they mean "the feeling that comes when one realizes that they don't have their makeup on." I am still a little unclear if it is the girl herself that says this, or her friend who warns her, but I would guess it is the friend from the ね, and it's like saying "XYZ" in English. Do you know for sure how to use it, dear readers? [source]

So what does this have to do with culture? Well I don't think it necessary related to the shallowness of ユニバレ, but there is this interesting rule in polite Japanese society (which is just about all Japanese society) : If you are a woman you always wear makeup outside of the house*. To not do so is not an option, because it is considered rude. The American in me really doesn't like this rule, but to each society their own I guess.

One more thing on makeup in Japan: Applying it in public is something that pisses the older generations off. I remember a teacher here at the school asking "Have you ever seen a girl putting on makeup on her bike? Why is that bad? Because one should put on their makeup in the privacy of her own room, where no one can see."
To which I replied, "So the problem isn't that she is being dangerous by riding and putting on makeup, but that people see her?"
To which the teacher replied, "That's a rather しつこい (obstinate) question."
--
Bonus vocab:
アルファベット略語: Alphabet abbreviation. Words that start out as Japanese and get abbreviated using roman letters.
KY語: KY word. A word that, following the pattern of KY, becomes an alphabet abbreviated word.
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*And a bra. I had a German friend that got in trouble with her boyfriend for not observing that rule.

Japanese Slang: Unibare

ユニバレ is a combination of two words:

ユニクロ (yunikuro, Uniqlo): a cheap clothing store chain

ばれる: letting the cat out of the bag

Together, they create a new word, which means for someone to notice that you, ohmigosh!, bought your clothes at Uniqlo. This spells social death in Japan, but at the same time, with a bad economy and freeter lifestyles abounding, getting the cheap clothes of Uniqlo is a good way to survive. [source]
Here's Uniqlo, trying to act all cool in a video, but we know they be posers:
It's like Japan is one big junior high, making fun of you for wearing the wrong brand clothes. When I was in the 7th grade, I remember asking a guy if one could buy Stussy at K-mart. All the cool kids had Stussy shirts. This naive bumpkin question of mine became hot gossip around the school, and I was mortified. Why the hell did we all care about fashion at that age anyways? Normal teen anxiety? Or was it just my odd town?