Dead words from the 70s and 80s in Japan
AdvertisementWell, some of the words in the list have an even longer pedigree, but most of the ones in this list from goo Ranking of Showa era (1925-1989) words that people don’t know the meaning of.
Demographics
On the 19th of November 2009 1,166 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 59.9% of the sample were female, 13.4% in their teens, 20.6% in their twenties, 28.2% in their thirties, 23.2% in their forties, 8.3% in their fifties, and 6.3% aged sixty or older.
This survey will be of most interest to students of the Japanese language, although I hope others can also enjoy it.
For these students of the language, I used a rather good online Japanese slang dictionary (note, Japanese only) as reference for the meaning of a few of the words.
It’s a bit of a curious twist that the only word I (and probably most of my readers) recognise is the number one unrecognised word, kimosabe!
Ranking result
Q: Which of the following words from the Showa Era do you not know the meaning of? (Sample size=1,066, multiple choice)
Rank 日本語 English/Romaji Meaning Score 1 キモサベ Kimosabe A trusty friend 100 2 可取り専攻 Katori senkou “If only I could pass the exam…” way of thinking – has same pronunciation as mosquito coil 98.9 3 ウニる Uniru Brain is all confused. From uni, sea urchin, which sort of looks like brains 91.9 4 BG Short for Business Girl An even less PC version of Office Lady 90.7 5 カイワレ族 Kaiware-zoku Middle, high school student who can only survive in a controlled society. Kaiware is a radish sprout, so someone too weak to stand on his own 88.6 6 ベルサッサ Beru-sassa Someone who leaves for home as soon as the bell sounds 88.5 7 ビフォア９ Before 9 Using morning commute time for personal development 88.1 8 ミツバチ族 Mitsubachi-zoku, bee tribe People who tour Hokkaido, etc by motorcycle 86.6 9 ロンタイ Rontai Short for Long Tight Skirt 81.2 10 ワンコン Wan-kon Short for Wan-len (which is short for One Length, long straight hair) plus Body-con (short for Body Conscious, a tight-fitting dress) 75.6 11 くれない族 Kurenai-zoku Someone who often says “Shite-kurenai”, “someone won’t do something for me” 74.7 12 パンキョー Pan-kyou Short for 一般教育科目, ippan kyouiku kamoku, general education course 74.6 13 家教 Ka-kyou Short for 家庭教師, katei kyoushi, home tutor 70.1 14 イマい Imai Trendy, vogue 67.6 15 クリスマスケーキ（の女） Christmas Cake (woman) A woman past her marriage sell-by date, nominally 25 66.3 16 ニュートラ New-tora (new traditional) In vogue style from the mid seventies to the eighties 63.8 17 太陽族 Taiyou-zoku From the book and movie Taiyou no Kitetsu, Season of the Sun, by Shintaro Ishihara (current Tokyo governer), describing the rebellious youth culture featured in the book 62.5 18 トラバる Torabaru Woman who changes jobs. From the French travail 61.6 19 ハマトラ Hamatora Abbreviation for Yokohama Traditional, a local variation on New Traditional above 60.0 20 パンピー Pan-pii Ordinary people, formed from 一般, ippan, ordinary, and the English people 44.4 21 ブッチ Bucchi Run away without saying a word, skive off work, ignore a phone call, etc 39.7 22 銀ブラ Gin-bura Abbreviation of Ginza Burabura, loitering around the streets of Ginza 31.9 23 半ドン Han-don A day with only a half day of work, school 31.4 24 結構毛だらけ、猫灰だらけ Kekko ke darake (quite covered in hair), neko hai darake (covered in cat ashes) Joke pronuniation of “kore ha kekko de aru”, “this is OK” 31.0 25 ５時から男 5 pm man Businessman who only comes alive after work 29.6 26 新人類 Shin-jinshu, the new race Young generation with a new way of thinking, feeling 27.8 27 花金 Hana-kin TGIF 20.4 28 マブい Mabui Beautiful, lovely 19.9 29 フケる Fukeru Skiving off work 19.7 30 クリソツ Kurisotsu Resembling, spitting image of. From a jumbling of the word sokkuri 19.0
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I’m surprised, you didn’t know クリスマスケーキ? That was the only one on this list that I had heard of, I thought it was still a semi-common word.
Ha! ベルサッサ… Someone told me about that term about 6 years ago, when I was new to Japan. Since it was possibly the first slang I knew, I wrote it down and of course I tried to be “cool” by using it whenever I could. Of course, nobody knew what I was talking about. I’d forgotten all about it, but at least now I know I wasn’t crazy.
Yeah, クリスマスカーキ is one of those staple Japanese cultural factoids constantly recycled in amateur rhetoric about Japan. I think it sounds as weird to contemporary Japanese as it does to bright-eyed foreigners. File under “the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.”
(FWIW, the average age of marriage for women in Japan has been over 25 since the 70s)
I’m glad you translated this and that “Christmas cake” is on there–I get the feeling that it’s a real eye-roller among current Japanese, but it is still commonly promoted in English-language literature about sexism in Japan and/or about wasei eigo (Japan-made English phrases). Many lists and books of “Japanese slang” are horribly outdated.
Interesting list! The only one I learned in the course of normal conversation was パンピー, though I’d heard a few of the others – imai, hanakin, and of course, Christmas cake. I wonder if they have a little more staying power in rural areas?
Funny, interesting!:D
LOL @ ベルサッサ