セレブ婚[serebukon]
I was kind of surprized to see the live-action drama version of 山田太郎ものがたり[The tales of Yamada Taro] for the first time because I know the original shoujo manga of it. Anyway, the protagonist Taro Yamada(left side in the above images) is almost perfect in anything. But his only one flaw is that he is extremely poor. This drama is about the poor young boy who has to work to rear his several siblings in spite of being a high-school student.
So I shall mention the girl who wants to pursue Taro. Yes, she is Takako(right side in the second image). She really wants to get married to a rich boy in order to be rich though she doesn’t know how poor Taro’s family is…At any rate, this type of girl must be a gold-digger. We Japanese used to say 玉の輿[tama no koshi] to mean a gold-digger, and 玉の輿に乗る[tama no koshi ni noru] means “to be a gold-digger.” Well, even now some people might say 玉の輿, but in these recent years, it has been common to say セレブ婚[serebukon].
セレブ[serebu] derives from celebrity in English. But know this is a Japanese-English word(和製英語). Basically, celebrity means a famous person, especially someone in the entertainment business. In short, the appropriate translation should be 芸能人[geinoujin], 著名人[chomeijin], or 有名人[yuumeijin]. In spite of the fact, セレブ simply means a rich person. So セレブ婚(婚 means marriage) means to get married to a rich man. I’m not pretty sure gold-digger is a slang(my dictionary says it is), but セレブ婚 seems to have less connotations of slang. So here we can see Taro’s best friend(?), Mimura(right side in the first image) who is amazingly rich. If Takako got married to him, she would get a セレブ婚.
Then what about the other way? I mean, how do we say to mean a man who gets married to a rich woman? セレブ婚 seems to be used for women somehow, so it would be 逆玉[gyakutama]. Easy to guess? Yes, 逆[gyaku] means reverse. So just switch the sex on the definition of 玉の輿. But know this is a slang.
If you know about Japanese actress, Kaoru Sugita(杉田かおる), you would be sure of the term, 負け犬[makeinu]. Know this is a slang, and it means a loser. 負け犬 is supposed to mean a loser, but it also means a spinster so badly. Unfortunately, a chance didn’t come to her for a long time, so she got a nickname, 負け犬 in the certain TV show. But she got married to a rich man, so this term セレブ婚 came up and has become common…The poor thing is that she got a divorce in seven months, so she has become a 負け犬 again. (つд`)
By the way, I personally like the actor as Taro’s father in the drama. I think he is the vocal on the rock group, SOPHIA. He is a match for Taro’s father.
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.
若い燕[wakai tsubame]
This is not well-known among young people, but most elderly people do know this term. Know this is a slang though it doesn’t have much insulting. 若い[wakai] means young, and 燕[tsubame] means a swallow. So literally, it means a young swallow. But actually this means a young man who has an elder mistress. Mostly he is taken care of by her so nicely that he doesn’t have to work There’s another similar term, ヒモ[himo] which simply means a thread. It derives from connotations that a man forces a woman to work so hard that she gets skinny like a thread. But this doesn’t even necessarily mean he is younger than her.
I guess it could be a gigolo in English if I translate 若い燕. The reason why this term is well-known among elderly people is, that this was born in the Meiji period when most women used to be forced to work as a mistress so badly. So a woman who was the advocator of the liberation for women, happend to fall in love with a young painter. The fact that such an advocator dated a young man shouldn’t be in public…but it came out to the light so badly. Most women got upset and furious when they knew about the two. So the painter left her with a letter saying like, “a young swallow has to fly away to calm down the troubled pond…” This is how this term was born, and at that time, it got very popular.
Speaking of younger, there’s another term though it has nothing to do with a young swallow; 青田買い[aotagai]. 青田[aota] means a blue field literally, but this makes no sense. To begin with this, I must explain the difference between the two colors, blue and green. We Japanese say occasionally 青い[aoi "blue"] to describe something green such as a signal[青信号"aoshingou"], an apple[青りんご"aoringo"]. And also, in order to describe something immature, we even say 青い. I think this is the same thing in English. So, 青田 means a field which is not ready for havest yet. Even too early. 買い means purchase, buying. So basically, 青田買い means to hire ungraduated students even before they get ready to start job hunting. I said, basically. Yes, inside otaku circles, there’s another use. I think you can guess! 青田買い means to keep an immature boy or girl before they get grown-up in order to make for their own only. I think this term has a connection with ロリコン[rorikon] or ショタコン[shotakon]. If you don’t know these two terms, please check my previous post about ロリショタ.
引きこもり[hikikomori]
If you have watched the anime, NHKにようこそ！[Welcome to NHK!], you must have heard of the term, 引きこもり[hikikomori]. NHK stands for 日本引きこもり協会[Nihon Hikikomori Kyoukai "Japan's Association for Hikikomori"], not Japan’s commercial broadcasting, NHK, which stands for 日本放送協会[Nihon Housou Kyoukai]. Forgive me, but I do not know how English speakers say 引きこもり since I haven’t been able to find out the appropriate word. At any rate, 引きこもり means a person who stays indoors every single day even though they are not mentally impaired(some people are, though). Yes, the protagonist in this anime, Sato-kun is 引きこもり. He got expelled from university, and he doesn’t have a job…every day he stays inside his room, in such a secluded space.
There’s another similar term, ニート[niito "NEET"], which stands for Not in Education, Employment, or Training. The funny thing is that I haven’t heard this term in the anime because Sato-kun insists he is 引きこもり. Yes, 引きこもり has to keep staying inside whereas ニート can go out anytime, accroding to him. Actually, ニート is more common than 引きこもり since the press generally focuses on them. As I have said, 引きこもり means even mental people sometimes. Comparing to 引きこもり, ニート does not seem to mean mental people.
So I hereby introduce a few more terms those relate this kind of thing. First, it’s 廃人[haijin]. 廃[hai] means to scrap, abolish, or discard. 人[jin] means a person…so literally, 廃人 means a scrapped person. Speaking of 廃人, we Japanese say ネトゲ廃人[netoge haijin] to describe a person who is addicted to online games. ネトゲ is an abbreviation of ネットゲーム[nettogeimu "online game"]. I heard some people died somewhere in Hong Kong or Korea because they played too much with no sleep, no eating, nor drinking.
Speaking of online games, there’s オフ会[ofukai]. オフ[ofu] means off, and 会[kai] means an assembly. This means an assembly by online game players, bloggers, or online chat mates. Upon the same purpose or interests, such people get together in the real world. In other words, this assembly takes place when they’re NOT on. That’s why we say オフ会. I have seen this kind of thing at a pub. Several people were having a party…but the weird thing was that it seemed to be not lively. They looked so solemn! And they called each other by alias, not real names. It sounded like the characters’ names in Ragnarok or something like that. I bet they must have met for the first time. Besides, the title of episode 12 of Welcome to NHK! is オフ会にようこそ！[Welcome to ofukai!]. But you will be terrorized when you see the assembly…no no, I shouldn’t give you any spoilers in case you watch this anime.
One more thing, there’s a spin-off term of ニート; 社内ニート[shanai niito]. 社内[shanai] means inside a company. It means a person who doesn’t work at all in spite of being at company. Though they can get a salary! Is there this kind of person at your company?
マスオさん[masuo-san]
Well, サザエさん[Sazae-san] is, if nothing else, a long-running TV anime series though it’s not very popular among anime fans. Yes, this anime is for non-otaku folks as well as ちびまる子ちゃん[Chibimaruko-chan]. As it happens, these two anime are broadcasted in a row, from six to seven p.m. on Sunday, when most families would have dinner. Both of them are midiocre sitcom comedies if you ask me. Forgive me, but I do not like this kind of thing because it’s too good to be true.
Anyway get to the point, Sazae doubles up with her parents at her family home. So does her husband, マスオ[Masuo]. See what I mean? He lives with her whole family members; her parents and two younger siblings of hers. In other words, he is always surrounded by them at home…he has few private hours so badly. He can’t relax all the time even though he seems to be happy in the anime. I hate to tell you, but I don’t think their house is so enough to accomodate so many people, though.
So this term, マスオさん means a husband(or an engaged man) who lives with his wife’s family at her home. Know this term aims a satire at such a person. Yes, I think this is a slang, and even non-otaku folks know this because this anime is for such general people.
By the way, I know at least two マスオさんs who happen to be foreigners. One is English and the other is French. Both of them have a Japanese girlfriend. I have never heard any complaints or whining from the two guys about being マスオさん. For non-Japanese people, being マスオさん is not stressful?
干物女[himono onna]
Actually, I learned this term this morning. On the way to my company, I saw an advertisement of above shoujo manga, ホタルノヒカリ[hotaru no hikari "Lights of Fireflies"] on the train. This manga is currently ongoing and a live-action TV drama series of this has started. A 27-year-old working woman, Hotaru Amemiya is always respected by everybody else because of her great performance. But meanwhile, she always goofs around whenever she is off. And of course, she doesn’t have a boyfriend, so that she doesn’t have to care her looking expect her working hours. Just like her, a woman who has stopped loving anyone in her twenties…is 干物女[himono onna]. 干物[himono] means a dried fish, and 女[onna] means a woman. So in short, 干物女 means a dried woman literally. Oh dear!
If this comic got so famous, this term would be also common, I guess. And know this term does not include any definitions of otaku. So 干物女 is not otaku, nor even 腐女子[fujoshi].
ドエス、ドエム[doesu, doemu]
I think these two terms are not so old yet, but surely we have used them without the first letter, ド[do]. At any rate, エス[esu] is actually S, and エム[emu] is M. So…caught on, haven’t you? Yes, S stands for sadist and M stands for masochist. For some reason, it’s getting common to put ド ahead of each. I’m not sure why, though. Well, ド is used to emphasizes how excessive it is. Mostly, it is written in katakana, but in kanji, it should be 度. Having said that, there are few adjectives to function with ド. I can think of アホ[aho"stupid"], へたくそ[hetakuso"not good at doing something, or merely bad"], and so on.
These two terms are really common anywhere, not only in anime but also in the real world. People should be either ドエス or ドエム…Is there a middle point? If one is such a bully, and the other must be bullied by him/her. So let’s see some anime through this glass; speaking of ドエス characters, I can think of Haruhi Suzumiya(The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi), Louise(Zero’s Familiar), Souryu Asuka Rangley(Evangelion). Sorry, I have mentioned those girls as ツンデレ[tsundere] characters. But wait, what about the other pair? Kyon seems to be relactant, but surely follows Haruhi, doesn’t he? However he whines, no matter what happens, he has to willy-nilly help her. Eventually, Kyon himself likes to do that. It’s not for the world, nor because Yuki Nagato told him to watch over her. So I guess Kyon must be ドエム. Forgive me, but otherwise he doesn’t follow Haruhi, right?
Also, what about Saito in Zero’s Familiar? Just because he was summoned by Louise as her familiar, Saito has to follow her. In the first place, yes. But as they get to know each other, Saito seems to enjoy himself even though he gets physically punished by her. So Saito must be ドエム, too.
After all, here’s a rule; if one of the pair is ドエス, the other should be ドエム. But what if both of them are ドエス or ドエム? How is the chemistry?
害人[gaijin]
I’m terribly sorry if this post offends you, but I do feel like using this word, 害人. Know this is a slang and includes exclusive discrimination so badly. 害[gai] means harm, damage, and 人[jin] means a person. Did you get it? 害人 naturally means a person who does harm to everybody else literally, so in short, it simply means a trouble or an asshole.
But actually, this pronounciation, gaijin is the same as 外人[gaijin] which means a foreigner. So the truth is, this 害人 means a foreigner who harasses everybody else. I am not sure whether this term was born in 2ch, but I often hear about such a 害人 on the net. Especially, a bulletin borad for language exchange because such 害人 people are looking for a date by using language exchange though there are numerous bulletin boards where they can find love romance or friendship. You know, I have tried to use such a bulletin board to find a language exchange partner since I am seriously learning English. However, almost all of the people who had contacted me, stopped mailing when they knew I am a guy. This makes me very upset. Why do they use language exchange for girlhunting? It really harasses serious learners. As I have said above, when things like this happen, I feel like using this slang, 害人. （｀^´）
