Borrowed lingo
In Japanese, one will find a curiosity of words borrowed from other languages, written in katakana, the square-ish, written script used for foreign words. Borrowed words in Japanese seem to reflect Japan's history since the end of isolationism, as many Portuguese, Dutch, and English words proliferate, as well as French and German.
On the weekend, whilst zipping around the countryside in a jalopy with Miss Hiroko and her family, after the rude interloping of a speedy driving hoon, Miss H shrieked in the Nihongo: "Papa, hit the Klaxon!", except the Klaxon was said in Japanese-English. Sir S and I were agog: Klaxon?! I had visions of tubular brass horns and squeezable bladders all shiny and gay and going "honk! toot! honk!". Most interesting!
Here are some other non-Japanese words used in daily lingo. A novel find was the 1920s slang below.
Arubaito アルバイト part-time job - from the German arbeit, to work. I was rather mystified when first coming to Japan that my younger students complained of tiredness due to their arbeito - "Oh, so you're working hard studying German too?", I would say.
Hotchikisu ホッチキス Hotchkiss - a brand of stapler which was first shipped to Japan in 1910 - not having a Japanese word for this item, the Japanese adopted the brand name.
Kurakushon クラクション Klaxon - car horn, borrowed from the trademark which came into use in the early 1900s.
Mo-bo モボ modern boy - 1920s slang referring to young Japanese men fascinated with Western clothing and dapper style.
Mo-ga モガ modern girl - 1920s slang referring to young Japanese women obsessed with Western frocks and flapper style.
Piero ピエロ Pierrot - clown
Baikingu バイキング Viking - buffet food
I especially like "Viking" as it conjures up images of horned and helmeted Scandinavian warriors tossing about chocolate mousse and steaks and rolling in the Caesar salad at the local Sizzler!
For further curious collections of borrowed words, peruse this.
On the weekend, whilst zipping around the countryside in a jalopy with Miss Hiroko and her family, after the rude interloping of a speedy driving hoon, Miss H shrieked in the Nihongo: "Papa, hit the Klaxon!", except the Klaxon was said in Japanese-English. Sir S and I were agog: Klaxon?! I had visions of tubular brass horns and squeezable bladders all shiny and gay and going "honk! toot! honk!". Most interesting!
Here are some other non-Japanese words used in daily lingo. A novel find was the 1920s slang below.
Arubaito アルバイト part-time job - from the German arbeit, to work. I was rather mystified when first coming to Japan that my younger students complained of tiredness due to their arbeito - "Oh, so you're working hard studying German too?", I would say.
Hotchikisu ホッチキス Hotchkiss - a brand of stapler which was first shipped to Japan in 1910 - not having a Japanese word for this item, the Japanese adopted the brand name.
Kurakushon クラクション Klaxon - car horn, borrowed from the trademark which came into use in the early 1900s.
Mo-bo モボ modern boy - 1920s slang referring to young Japanese men fascinated with Western clothing and dapper style.
Mo-ga モガ modern girl - 1920s slang referring to young Japanese women obsessed with Western frocks and flapper style.
Piero ピエロ Pierrot - clown
Baikingu バイキング Viking - buffet food
I especially like "Viking" as it conjures up images of horned and helmeted Scandinavian warriors tossing about chocolate mousse and steaks and rolling in the Caesar salad at the local Sizzler!
For further curious collections of borrowed words, peruse this.
posted by Miss Ember at 6:44 pm
1 Comments:
In one of the Japanese travel books I read last year, there was an amusing mention of Western cycling enthusiats who visited Nippon and decided to take refreshments in the "Biking" restaurants, mistaking them as eateries for keen cyclists, and were bewildered at the preponderance of horned helmets and Scandinavian landscape photos in the decor!
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