New Japanese Vocaburaries????
It has been almost 17 years since I left Japan. For those 17 years, lots of “new Japanese words” were born, most of which make no sense to me! Most of them came from the combination words or abbreviated ones from other languages. Among those languages, of course, English is on the top of the list!
For example, what do you think is the name of the disease of this guy? Most of you would say, “Obesity – or Metabolic Syndrome,” right? In Japan, people call the obese “Metabo.” That’s it. Even a bit of overweight makes them call it “Metabo.” “Metabo” people are seen everywhere in Japan! Oh, well, I cannot handle that!
The other day, I noticed there were some posts in Facebook including the word, “ARAFOO.” ??? “Watashi-wa ARAFOO nande ….” I had to ask a friend of mine what it meant. He said, “it means ‘around forty (years old)'” Later on, in another post, I found a word, “ARASAA.” I guessed – “around thirty (years old).” And I was right!!
Media makes up words. Youngsters copy. Or vice versa. I have no idea. I feel as if I was a living fossil…
