I only recently realized that I have like, a new annoying catch phrase every couple of months. I don't mean to. It just happens. I get hooked on words and overuse them. A couple years ago I was pushing "the bomb" really hard. Then I was calling everyone "B." Then I started saying "that's nuts!" about like, fucking everything. Since I started this blog, I've been all about "rad." I have to be careful what I say as a joke, because ironic usage of things like "OMG" and "I know, right?" becomes natural real fast and it never goes away completely. Sometimes I just find or remember a term I like so much I want it to come back. Like right now I'm really into "fly" which is like, the coolest word ever, remember the Fly Girls?
Oh my god. Still so cool my heart aches.
Here are Japanese words I would like to slangify in English. But it just never sounds all that cool to hear English speakers dropping Japanese words on other English speakers. Which isn't really fair, because languages swap words all the time and it's a lovely thing, and obviously I think Japanese is rad, but you know what I mean. How did we let it get so nerdified? Anyway here are my fave Japanese words. Beware of my interpretive translations.
BIMYO
Means: "Meh."
"How was the sex?"
"Nnn... it was like, bimyo."
CHO
Means: "SUPER..."
"He says he feels so empty when I'm not around..."
"Ugh, that is CHO lame!"
YAPPARI
Means: "Ah, just as I suspected!"/"I knew it!" (kind of)
"Did you go home after I left last night?"
"Ah, no, actually me and High-Five Guy..."
"LOL, yappari!"
What are your favorite Japanese words? Do you mix your Japanese into English conversations? Do you ever do it on accident?
13 comments:
What was the one that we came up with while I was there....
it was two three letter words...
that meant something alone the lines of cho.
Can you remember????
LOL. "bang dot." wasn't it said accidentally in earnest the first time?
BANG DOT!
I can't remember who said it. Or what it was about.
But, I seriously think this is a bang dot idea. Let's make it work .
hahaa
like you would not believe
was home now and i kept hitting everyone on the head and saying, baka!
they thought i was odd
that and majidesukaaaa??
I remember the fly girls. Used to watch In Living Color in elem. school.
And I get you on the accidental overuse. I started talking like a surfer frat boy ironically to mock an ex and... some things stuck. Shit.
One of my favorite random overused slang is one coined by my friend's country 68 year old mom: craparapa!
In Japanese...
mendokusai
geeee
saikou/saiaku
and I hate:
saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
amanda - we probably don't even have a choice, now. i like it, it sounds kind of late 50s. shooot...
sarah - i may have blurted a couple "yabai"s and got made fun of. and "sou sou sou sou!" is always at the tip of my tongue. it's mostly the weird japanese vocalizations though. i have to moan and gasp along with every conversation. "unnn... nnnng... hmmm... hehhhh?"
selena - i LOVE mendokusai, it's like a one-word tantrum!
my mom is infamous for weird slang. when she doesn't want to swear she goes, "oh, pickle poop.." but post-divorce she's been heard making exclamations like "that effing dildohead" which is pretty fly IMO
also, OMG in livin color was the best. my brother and i used to stay up late to watch it when our mom was working nights. it is astounding that "homey don't play that" hasn't made its way into my lexicon yet.
sou sou sou sou....
eeeeeeeehhhhhhh
haha
i get you 100% i had to nod and murmur and basically have a second conversation with myself while someone else was speaking. i dont know if i will ever stop
sooo cool that you liiive in tokyo, im dyign over this fact! yea, i overuse lotsof words too, liike right now everything is siiic, and i used to say everything was bangin. i dont know much japanese but i speak a lot of spanglish :)
You should hear me and my husband talk---it's like crazy Japanese English mash up that no one can understand.
Example-
peko poko?
Yeah kinda
Ban gohan wa?
Shit-I dunno...douuu shiou kannnna....
I kinda liked that thing we made before but it was chotto mendokusai kedo...
and so on.
It's ridik and it's causing us both to lose our native tongue. Without picking up an accepted language to replace it. it sucks.
Oh and Yadda was one of the first words I learned in Japanese and may be the one I use most frequently. What does that say about me?
Pickle poop is awesome. That's my new one, thanks Beth's mom.
Dannie -- love your blog & your look is fly! You'll get here soon enough if you keep those stars in your eyes. I confirm, no place like Tokyo.
megu -- that's how I sound when I'm with Japanese and English speakers at the same time, it's awfully confusing.
selena -- I'm totally passing on your thanks!
Haha whenever I talk to English speakers I accidentally let a few "cho"s and "deshou?"s slip. Oops.
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