Toujin No Negoto　★　唐人の寝言

So today I watched a documentary about the F-word. They interviewed a lot of famous faces, and not so famous faces about their opinions on the word. You can check out the documentary on Veoh. Anyway, it reminded me of a time long passed when the few Japanese words I knew were, well, not words to say to the emperor.

Opinions on swear words are very polar. Some will use them every other word, some find it dispicable, profane, low-class etc. While I respect that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it is my opinion that these people's opinions are flawed.

Of course there is a time and a place. You don't walk in to your grandparents house and greet them with a "Hey fuckers!" But there are times when swear words are acceptable (I wouldn't say appropriate). Curse words add a emotive factor to speech.

For example: You are hammering in some nails, and you hammer your thumb. Now, devoid of emotional content one could utter: "I have hammered my thumb and it is painful." And there's nothing wrong with that, but I'd more more likely to scream: "Fuck! Fuck shit that hurt! Arrrrrgh." There's a sort of release with this expletive use of swear words.

On a side not, I feel it is weird to refer to curse words as 'swears'. Maybe as part of my New Zealand dialect.

Anyway, another use of these 'bad' words is for their obvious (to some) comedic effect. Just check out Eddy Murphy's old standup routines (with special reference to his Bill Cosby routine, which is probably funnier to those who have seen the Cosby show etc.) No matter what the use, swear words should serve a purpose, even if that is just to define your personality as generally grouchy.

There seems to be a fascination with learning swear words. They tend to be some of the first or only things you want to learn in a new language. Seeing as this is a Japanese blog, you can probably guess where I'm going.

Comparing Japanese swear words to English words isn't an exact science. Approximations can be made, but meanings will likely never match up completely.

The general attitude to swearing in Japanese seems a bit lax. I'm not saying that swearing is acceptable, I'm saying that it seems swear words don't carry as strong a meaning as they do in English. There are few words that you could really define as swearing to the point that 'fuck' is considered.

If you haven't already skipped all my gibber-jabber, I'll just get to the juicy stuff. Here are a few Japanese swear words and some explanations of them.

• 阿呆 ahou - This word carries connotations of 'dumbass,' 'idiot,' etc. Usage is similar to English. A variation on this is 怒阿呆 doahou, which takes the meaning 'total idiot' or 'fuckwit' according to Jim Breen (yes, apparently he swears?)
  
• 馬鹿 baka - This wort correlates well to the English 'stupid.' When someone does a dumb thing, or doesn't know something, you can counter with a 'baaaaaka.'
  
• やろう yarou - This is just a bad way to call a person. You can think of it as meaning something like 'bastard.' you could say あのやろう ano yarou to mean 'that guy' with a very bad meaning. Sometimes paired with other words like 馬鹿やろう baka yarou, 'stupid idiot.'
  
• まぬけ manuke - This word can translate roughly to idiot, as in someone who does stupid things.
  
• 糞 kuso - This word can mean a lot of things. It usually translates to something like 'damn!' or 'shit!' but it can also act as a noun, as in 'crap,' for example 目糞 mekuso is the crap you get in your eyes after sleeping.
  
• 餓鬼 gaki - Not such a bad word, but basically means kids, with a bad meaning. Similar to 'brat.' Sometimes modified in ways like 糞餓鬼 kusogaki (see above).
  
• やりまん - Ouch. This word is bad. It basically translates to slut. Yari comes from yaru (do have sex in this case) and man from manko (vagina). So it means a vagina that has sex. I think you can't say this word on TV in Japan. The male version is やりちん yarichin, but it doens't seem like such a bad meaning.
  
• うんこ - Not exactly a harsh word. It basically means shit, as in faeces.
  
• うんち - A childish way to say shit. Think 'poos.'
  
• お前 omae - Means 'you.' Can be used among friends, but don't ever try to call a stranger this. They'll likely hit you. By the kanji, it basically means 'the person in front of me.'
  
• てめえ - A vulgar way to say 'you.' Very very bad. Worse than above, would likely use it in a fight situation.
  
• こいつ・そいつ・あいつ koitsu,soitsu,aitsu - While not swearing, they are not polite words. They mean 'this guy, that guy, that guy (over there).'
  
• 惚け boke - Basically a fool, stupid person. Less serious than, say, 'ahou.' Though perhaps meaner than baka.
  
• 貴様 kisama - Wow. One way to say 'you,' but there are very few ocassions when it would be necessary. You would use it in a complete rage, pehaps before exacting revenge on someone. Very angry and full of negative meaning.
  
• 変態 hentai - The meaning of this word is something like 'pervert.' Anyone who's strange sexually can be called hentai. Not to be confused with the pseudo-English word of the same spelling.
  
• 助平 sukebe - Similar to the above.
  
• むっつり助平 muttsuri sukebe - A sukebe that is in hiding. They project the image of a normal person, while inside their head they are thinking lewd, sexual thoughts. A closet pervert I guess.
  
• いく iku - Those of you who watch AV, unlike me (...), may have heard this one. To put it bluntly, it means to cum. Wow what a powerful word. And, according to a Japanese sex documentary I watched recently, it's just as likely that these women don't mean it when they say it. Oh well.
  
• ぺちゃパイ pecha pai one word meaning flat-chested/no boobs.
  
• まな板 manaita a chopping board, or euphamism for a flat chest. They say this in English too, right?
  

If I think of more, I will update this post. It's just not popping into my head at the moment.

If you're left wanting to sound like a generally angry guy, then perhaps check out Yakuza Japanese, a cool site I found just today. It's good as both a cultural lesson and you will learn a few words too!