掲示板 Forums - Relatable scenarios

It bothers me so much when people romanize vowel combinations like おう or いい with a - above one vowel instead of writing both vowels. Especially with おう and おお. I can't think of any possible good reason to do this, and there's so many problems,

1, If it's ou or oo writing it that way gives no way to know what kana it actually is,

2, No one copying it actually keeps the -, so it just ends up representing only one kana which could make it look like an entirely different word,

3, Just why? It's not like it makes it that much easier to write, it just seems like a product of extreme laziness, in fact I don't even know why a lazy person would do it I can't figure out the motive behind it at all.

Aaah, I thought the reason I was frustrated about -る endings was that my vocabulary is so limited! Thank you, I feel better now.

Re: long vowels marked with the macron above: oh, they bug me so. And I was forced to use them while translating a whole book once, because the editor said "it's the publishing house's policy, it's either macrons or nothing". Btw, Giles Milton's Samurai William may be interesting if you like history and want to know about the real person who inspired (gasp) Shōgun.

Another pet (elephant) peeve: the (thankfully disappearing) practice of using "m" for ん. I feel fairly sure a small kitten dies somewhere each time I read "shimbun".

I saw a piece on NHK World in which they explained about the misreading of 硫黄島 as Iwo Jima. Forget peeves, that must have been simply traumatic for the locals. On top of everything else.

Speaking of NHK World, it's so frustrating that they use neither macrons nor long vowels, even on their website. I blame them for my misremembering a lot of words related to 大相撲.

I'm going to be a bit snarky and say armies who come to, erm, visit places don't exactly have a history of paying attention to the meaning of names or history of places they, uh, visit. That, and it was maybe shorter to rattle off over the radio.

Trying to imagine an American of that time pronouncing the actual reading of 硫黄島. Aye-woe-toe?

1. I can make allowance for tempura as a loan word that has been fully adopted. (Though I continue to grumble at "connoisseur".)

2. ルール is the supreme enemy, to be used only when all other resources have been exhausted.

translations that turn きっと into "surely" drive me crazy. nobody says that anymore! and it ends up adding a nuance of doubt where often there is none!! because surely is most often used in a weird ironic way where it means you're not sure at all. ugh!!!

aside from that, i wish it was easier to say you're excited about something without sounding like you're also potentially aroused. the fact that one common word means both of those is just so...

Assuming we're talking about 興奮, that's a specific kind of excitement. Implying a physical or emotional rush. For example, if you were meeting with a friend and wanted to say "I'm really exited to see you tomorrow" you would never use 興奮.

If you're with your friends and one of you is getting way too worked up or hyped about something, you might say ちょっと、興奮しすぎじゃない！ and that wouldn't sound "weird" at all. It depends on delivery and context. Also makes for great jokes and innuendos, so more of a feature than a problem, imo :D

right, i know this. that one was more lighthearted, because it came up in conversation with a japanese friend of mine. kind of like, "god, this isn't a sexual thing! i'm just regular excited!" i'm well aware context matters and there are multiple words that cover the general idea of excitement lol.

japanese has a lot of like... ambiguous "this could be sexual" words, like wink-nudge stuff. 貝合わせ started as a game, but ended up referring to a specific sex position. apparently 肉まん can be sexual too! it's fascinating but also drives me a little crazy

edit: i apologize for getting annoyed in my tone. it wasn't meant toward you, and the reason i replied to you specifically was due to how friendly your response was. sorry about that!

I'm not a native speaker, but I also feel like it's quite dated. In modern English it has two main uses: expressing disbelief or surprise; expressing sarcasm or irony.

If I said "It surely feels that way" instead of "It certainly feels that way", that would feel a bit weird, right? It's still used in literature and sometimes in formal speech (allegedly), but I certainly (surely lol) don't use it myself.

that's actually pretty interesting! i've never spent time in the midwest... i did spend my childhood in NJ and that state alone has so many weird language things, so it's definitely believable. out of curiosity, is this like the great lakes area? or another part?