Japanese Slang (54 page)

Authors: Peter Constantine

BOOK: Japanese Slang

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Koko wa jigokuki bakkari de kanawan'.
I can't stand it here, it's teeming with hell goblins.

Priests ranked intercourse with a prostitute among the most dangerous of sins, and branded it as
dagoku
(falling to hell). One way to soften the evil was to practice
hishi
(no center), where a cleric paid a woman to manipulate him from head to toe, carefully steering clear of his “center.” Priests, however, who yielded to professional intercourse, were accused of passionate entanglement
(ky
raku),
waving their wooden swords
(bokken ofuru),
mixing lewdly
(kojin),
and even banging
(utsu).

Thesaurus

THIS THESAURUS is a representative selection of Japanese slang terms arranged alphabetically under English subject headings. It is designed to give the reader both an overview of some of the words featured in this book, and to introduce topics of a wider scope, such as terms for money, prison, drugs, and alcohol.

Most of the expressions are
ingo
(hidden language)âthe pithiest slang and jargon spoken in underworld cliques throughout Japan. As these
ingo
words have a tendency to remain firmly encapsulated in the speech of particular groups, urban or regional, foreigners who try them out on the wrong crowd will be met with at best blank stares, at worst with shock and terror.

ALCOHOL

atapin
bad sake (from
atama,
“head” and
pin
, “boing”)

awa
foam beer

awagisu
foam liquor

kiyoiwake
(from
kiyoi,
“clear,” and
wake,
Ainu word for “water”)

nigagisu
bitter liquor

teppen
scalp (bad sake)

ANAL INTERCOURSE

bakonbakon suru
doing bang bang

dandan fuku
gradual wipe

dandan suru
doing it gradually

rishi o giru
ripping the ass (inversion of
shiri o giru
)

uraguchi ny
gaku
entering school through the back door (college slang)

uramontsuko
going through the back gate

ANUS

akabe
(western Japanese dialect origin)

ana
hole

gebo

gesu
also means “bottom”

gesu no ana

gob
no kirikuchi
cut burdock

ikihiri

ikimi
breathing body (northern Japanese dialect origin)

ishiki
(Hiroshima slang)

isuke
(southern Japanese dialect origin)

keppo
(Hiroshima dialect)

kukka

kusube

okama
iron pot (more popular as a word for “homosexual”)

shigame
anus (northern Japanese dialect origin)

unpan
(central Japanese dialect origin)

uramon
back door

ARREST, to

bakuru

hikkakeru
to hook

kanakakeru
to put metal on

kuikomu
to gnaw into (as a dog does)

mushi

nejiru
to wrench

nekaru

neru
to sleep

nezumaki
citizen's arrest

shimeru
to throttle

ARRESTED, to be

anberu
to be punched (Nagasaki slang)

bare
(Kyushu dialect origin)

barareru
from
hipparareru

chaburu

daimaki ni au
to meet on the platform (to be
arrested at the scene of the crime)

datsumaki ni au

donten
(northern Japanese dialect origin)

d
roku nekari
to be arrested at the scene of the crime

furi
disadvantage

hipparareru

jime ni kakaru
to be tied up

kakaru
to be tied up

kamaru
from
tsukamaru,
“to catch”

kanakakeru
to put on metal

karidasu
to take out

kokeru
to fall

kuzureru
to collapse

machiba ni kakaru
to be caught at the waiting place (to be arrested in a police net)

moka

nashi o utsu

nukaru
to bungle

shibakareru
to be arrested on the job

son o suru
to get lost

sukatenpura
subordinate offering himself up for arrest in place of his boss (from
suka
, shortened inversion of
kawasu,
“exchange,” and
tenpura
)

tana o utsu
to hit the shelf

tananashi nibaru

tenpura
Japanese deep-fried food (from the image that the arrested criminal feels like he is about to be dropped into a cauldron of boiling fat)

teire
crackdown

teyao chora
(ethnic Chinese origin)

tsuru
to fish

ARSON

aka ga iku
the red goes

aka hashiru
the red runs

aka neburu
the red licks

aka ga iku
the red goes

akainki
red ink