ボンボン[bonbon]
If you look at any bishounen anime, you would absolutely find at least one boy who is extremely well-bred and posh(sometimes a bit snobbish). Yes, he is 王子様[ouji-sama,"prince"] or simply 王子[ouji]. Know 王子様 does not even necessarily mean he is a son of a noble. But if he is just well-bred and rich, he would not be so attractive, especially in otome games or shoujo manga. Probably, he has to be good at sports or playing instruments better than anybody else. Or else, he has to be so smart that any girls could be attracted(needless to say, he must be handsome for sure).
So we have this term, ボンボン[bonbon] . Though it’s not clear how this term came up with, please know this is a slang. It means a posh man who can’t do anything by himself, or doesn’t know how the world works. Or else, in order to ridicule this type of person, we Japanese say ボンボン. I don’t think we can hear this word in anime a lot because such posh boys are all regarded as 王子様. And as I have said, this is such a slang that it includes insulting.
Speaking of ボンボン, I can definitely think of Suneo-kun(Doraemon) and Hanawa-kun(Chibimaruko-chan) though both of the two anime are for general people. Well, I am not pretty sure how Amuro Ray(Gundam) has grown up(Is he a mechanic otaku?), but I assume if he were in the real world, he could be. If you have watched the old Gundam series, you could remember his remarkable line, ２回もぶったな！親父にもぶたれたことないのに！[You hit me twice! My dad never hit me!] Nowadays, fathers seldom hit their sons in Japan, however, a boy whose father never hit could exist at that time(1979 or so)? Believe me, in the olden time, fathers used to hit their sons naturally.
Speaking of ボンボン, there’s one more similar term; 温室育ち[onshitsu sodachi]. 温室 means a greenhouse, and 育ち[sodachi] is a noun form of 育つ[sodatsu,"grow"]. Any vegetables in a greenhouse could grow up well, don’t they? In such a cozy enviroment. So they are usually more expensive than normal ones…See what I mean? Yes, 温室育ち means a person who is raised in a rich family. Know this term has no gender distinction.
Avplaya said,
August 13, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Doesn’t ボンボン also means “full from eating”? Or was that just kansai-ben?
Another excellent post btw…
bangin said,
August 14, 2007 at 1:12 am
That’s ponpon[ポンポン]. And yes, this term,ボンボン was born in Kyoto to describe a young man who is well-bred. It wasn’t supposed to be a slang, but somehow it has changed. Another way to say this is 若旦那[waka-danna] or just 若[waka]. Both of them are not slangs.
旦那 is supposed to mean a husband, but sometimes it is also used to address a single man(old-fashioned way, though). If you have watched any period anime or dramas, you might have heard of it…So 旦那 doesn’t even necessarily mean a married man. ^^
khursten said,
August 14, 2007 at 3:24 am
Another new word for the otaku dictionary! Nice one here. Totally reminds me of a lot of characters in anime. I’m more familiar with teh waka-danna. X3
In the west, bonbon means a different meaning altogether. :3
bangin said,
August 14, 2007 at 8:30 am
In French, bonbon means a candy…that’s the only thing I learned. You know anything else?
In the anime, bakumatsu kikansetsu irohanihoheto, the protagonist, Youjiro Akidsuki was addressed 秋月の旦那(Akidsuki no danna) by someone else…I don’t remember clearly, though. But he is single.
Avplaya said,
August 14, 2007 at 4:47 pm
ah, it’s ponpon.. I’ve only heard it and not seen it written anywhere.. good to know it’s real pronounciation. It’s so cute when a kansai girl says that. Seemed like a lot of these terms were invented by single women… ^^
bangin said,
August 15, 2007 at 4:24 am
I remember one more thing. 旦那 can also mean a boyfriend. Actually in these recent years, this has been common for young people. Whether they are married or not doesn’t matter. Even if they are not engaged, it should be okay. There’s other way around, 嫁[yome] can also mean not only a bride, but a girlfriend. I wonder if these two are slangs…
w said,
August 15, 2007 at 6:47 am
Speaking of 嫁, in otaku culture (especially the more frivolous side of it…
it seems to be awfully common to say so-and-so is my 嫁. It’s nothing new or interesting, but I just seem to find it kinda funny in a strange way… You wouldn’t find people saying that in English fandom “Isako is my wife!!”
I have a hunch even girls might say that in a doubly-contradictory way (like for Yugioh’s Seto Kaiba, who is extremely popular on niconico, I can imagine girls typing in 社長は俺の嫁！or 俺の嫁ｷﾀ━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━ｯ!) … although this is 100% imagination and I don’t know whether they’d really do it.
bangin said,
August 16, 2007 at 1:00 am
I have even heard non-otaku folks saying like,”my 嫁 is…” Mostly they are 20’s. Teenagers or ギャル男s don’t seem to say this, I suppose so.
Oh, even in English fandom, they say that?
I have seen some female bloggers sometimes using 俺 (I assume they never say that in the real world) and writing in the manly way…like あ～超疲れてんだけど俺 or うおお！メガネに萌えたぜ！ I guess they like to be so manly…
Avplaya said,
August 16, 2007 at 8:30 pm
In American culture, “wife” doesn’t mean that much… they’d rather say “I want to date so-and-so!” than “I want to MARRY so-and-so”. American male in general fear marriage and doesn’t look forward to it. Japanese guys are more family oriented and sees things differently.
bangin said,
August 17, 2007 at 5:24 am
Most men who use 嫁 are mid-20’s as far as I know…I wonder if this implies they are eager to be positive about marriage.