I just heard a few confusing English abbreviations on TV and thought I’d post a few to show how confusing pseudo-English/etc. can be :o)
I never properly learned romanji and never will.. but anyway, I’ll do my best to write the Japanese words semi-phonetically…
Let’s start with Pokémon. I always just assumed it was that thing’s name… but it’s actually English! (kinda)
It means ‘pocket monster’… which immediately brings back memories of uncle Larry’s favourite game to play when my parents were away. Something tells me a name like that isn’t very marketable…
Now mayoraa, I could have used for Max. Dude would eat a family-size jar of mayonnaise within a few weeks. He was his own family when it came to mayo. ‘Raa’ means ‘rabaa’, which is Engrish for ‘lover’. That’s right.. mayonnaise lover.
Not to be sexist or anything but both men and women use the term OL (office lady) for a woman that works in a clerical position. Traditionally, if women worked in an office their job included pouring and serving tea to all the (typically male) employees in the office. Things have changed a lot since then but not completely. As far as I know, however, OL isn’t really seen as sexist, so I see it quite often. Men, by the way, are typically called ’salaryman’ (it’s overkill to add [sic] but I should mention that words aren’t really pluralised in Japanese). At first I thought it was a joke, but just like OL, it’s pretty standard.
It took me a couple times to figure out what the hell my friends were talking about when they said they went out with their daa. Doll? Dog? Dad? It sounded like an old Monty Python skit where the writer dies mid-sentence… anyway, I soon solved the riddle and realized it’s an abbreviation of darling :o)
It’s like doing broken-record Zsa Zsa Gabor impressions…
If hearing loli-con conjures up images of a lollipop con artist, you wouldn’t be too far from its intended meaning. It’s actually Lolita complex haha.
You might then hear asscon and fall deeper into the gutter… but don’t worry, it’s just a shortened concatenation of asphalt and concrete… something even the dirtiest mind can’t pervert.
It also takes a while to hear autobai and not think someone’s trying to give you an automatic good-bye. But, it’s just an ‘automatic bike’… something we might call a motorcycle if we were familiar with the language known as English ;o)
In Japan, ‘byto’ is neither 8 bits nor is it something you do when eating. It’s from the German word arbeit and Japanese people use it to mean part-time job…
Some other abbreviations…
Ice –> ice cream
Comé –> comment
Puramo –> purasutiku moderu (meaning: plastic model)
Makudo –> MakuDonarudo (meaning: McDonalds)
Opé –> operation (medical)
Acogi –> acoustic guitar
Ana –> announcer
Amécomi –> American comic book
Nocan –> Not counting (meaning: nothing significant)
Digicamé –> digital camera
Mé-ado –> (e)meiru adoresu (meaning: email address)
Risuka –> risuto katto (meaning: wrist cutting)
Rimocon –> remote control
Rabu-rabu –> love-love (meaning: reciprocal love)
Famiresu –> family restaurant
Améfuto –> American football
Apo –> appointment
Departo –> department store
Donmai –> don’t mind (don’t worry about it)
Eroguro –> erotique and grotesque
Hansuto –> hanga sutoraiku (meaning: hunger strike)
Home –> (train) platform
Mazacon –> mother complex (meaning: Oedipus complex)
Puroresu –> professional wrestling
Sando –> sandwich
Sekuhara –> sexual harassment
Wa-puro –> word processor
Konbini –> convenience Store
Burapu –> Burado Pitto (Brad Pitt)
CM –> commercial (message)
Losu –> Los Angeles
Nanpuré –> number play (sudoku)
Not an abbreviation but just plain funny:
An all-you-can-eat buffet in Japanese is sometimes called a ‘Viking’.
Nothing like a buffet after a good pillaging haha
http://www.canit.se/~thunderl/pix/pxhl/mqfa.jpg
Hey!
That family-size mayo jar would last at least 3 weeks if not a month. You can’t persuade me into reasonable sando’s, I’m half-Chilean. They put spoonfuls of mayo on pounds of abalone and eat it whole (I have been told the abalone that gets exported to Japan gets sliced laser thin and sold in measly quantities at the perhaps commonly exorbitant prices Japan is known for?).
Japanese are wierd…in a cool sort of way, I guess…
ps. did I tell you I was outside a departo yesterday where they were laying asscon and thought I saw Burapu! It ended up being only an construction worker. sigh.
I swallowed my sorrow by having a viking afterwards…
you’re down with the lingo!
another favourite here is that they call velcro ‘magic tape’… kids must feel like David Copperfield when they’re putting on their shoes haha