Sunday, December 11, 2011

The top 10 words describing the Japan of 2011--Final

Today, I can finally finish talking about the top 10 winners of the buzzwords and new words of 2011 contest. If you are interested in my explanations of the ones I already covered, please see the links below.



★どや顔/doya-gao

どや/doya is a word (or a phrase. I'm not sure if どや/doya is a word or a phrase) in the Osaka dialect. It means the same thing as どうだ?in standard Japanese. どうだ(douda) means, "I'm right, aren't I?" For example, say A and B are arguing over something. Both of them stand strong and don't give an inch. If it turns out that A is right, A will say triumphantly, "どうだ/douda?". As you can see, the word is usually used when you want to brag about the fact that you are right. Personally, I think that doya in the Osaka dialect sounds stronger than douda in the standard Japanese.

顔/Kao, the latter part of どや顔, means face. Can you guess what どや顔/doya-gao means? どや顔/doya-gao means a smug look on your face or a facial expression indicating that you are bragging about your triumph. This year, the phrase has become very popular. I don't know why though.


★スマホ/sumaho

It's an abbreviation of スマートフォン/smartphone. This year, smart phones have become very popular in Japan. It's been reported that the 3/11 earthquake also inspired people to buy one. During the summer, smartphone sales accounted for over half of the total sales of cellphones.


★どじょう内閣/dojyo-naikaku

When Japanese Prime Minister Noda assumed power in September, he likened himself to a loach/weatherfish in his first official statement. Because of this, his administration is referred to as dojyo-naikaku (どじょう/dojyou means loach or weatherfish. 内閣/naikaku means cabinet or administration). It's been reported that PM Noda likened himself to loach in order to highlight his determination that he would do his best in a solid (or honest) way. Personally, I don't understand why the phrase was selected.


★ラブ注入

In Japan, comedians always appear in TV shows. Some short performances done by comedians often become very popular. They are so simple that a lot of children try to copy these performances, and it often makes them very popular. ラブ注入/love tyunyu is one of them which has become very popular this year. Please see the attached YouTube video. In the video, a few seconds after starting, a tall man appears and does a sort of short performance. During the performance, he says love-tyuntyu while making a heart shape with his hands.

ラブ means love (Love is written "ラブ” in Japanese). 注入/tyunyu means injection. I don't know exactly what he intends to say with the phrase " Love-tyunyu", but I guess that love-tyunyu means that he'll inject his love into your heart or something like that.