Strange English in Japan
The Japanese use a lot of English, but it's not always easy for gaijin to figure out what's being said. "Punk" doesn't mean a tough-looking guy, but a flat tire (it comes from the word puncture). If someone is "cunning" in Japan, it means they're cheating on a test. For some reason, the English word "glamor" has come to mean women who are well-endowed, so you might want to use the Japanese word for grammar (bunpo) to avoid chuckles in your classroom. If you buy a "bike" for your child you might get looked at funny since the word always refers to a motorcycle and never to a bicycle. If you have a business proposal to make to a Japanese woman, there's a slight chance she'll start blushing on you, since the English word "propose" is only used for marriage proposals in Japan, not for other kinds of formal business suggestions. If you "rinse" your hair, you're applying cream rinse, and if you live in a "mansion" it means you live in a nice townhouse that you own yourself. Living in Japan can be wacky!
This is a mansion by the way. Lots of people live there.
posted by Peter in Japan at 7:45 PM
6 Comments:
I was told that "Viking style" was what they called buffets.
12:18 AM
Hmm - Glamo(u)r's overtones to the Japanese may come from the British description of "Glamour modelling" - which usually describes photography featuring ladies with (ahem) quite large qualifications in the chest department.
The "Viking Style" for buffet may come from Scandinavia - where buffet style eating is pretty popular?
Or maybe not!
9:16 AM
I've only ever heard it called "viking", and yes, it does mean "buffet". But Japanese lacks a "V" sound, so it comes out as "biking", which initially confused me even further.
I suspected it was just related to the image of Vikings digging into mounds of food (and throwing the bones on the floor), but it turns out that virtually no Japanese have any idea who the vikings were...
9:42 AM
K, yes, forgot about that one. Argh, I'm a viking! Give me more food.
Steve, yes a lot of times the "strange" (to my American ear) come from you guys. They call the hood of a car a bonnet (ボネット). Can you imagine anything so strange? ^_^
11:23 AM
Seconding the glamour usage here in Britain, and also the word "mansion" here refers to large blocks of flats rather than the American "giant house" meaning. So it sounds like we've had our own bit of influence on the Japanese language. :)
7:53 PM
The rumour I heard in regards to "Viking" is that a japanese chef travelled to Sweden at was invited to a smörgåsbord, but he couldn't pronounce it so he called it a "Viking".
True or not? I have no idea, but the story is rather amusing.
12:58 PM
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