Learning English all over again...

[Adhesive]

What's up with all of the English words incorporated into the Japanese lexicon that are just completely removed from their original meaning? There's many examples, but the one that triggered my irrititation is the constant use of S and M to denote dominant and submissive. Someone needs to tell the Japanese that a sadist is bit more than a controlling boyfriend. Another one that I find particularly bothersome is the word celeb, or celeb-life. Japanese use it to indicate the person is wealthy, completely removed from any aspect of the person's fame. Mansion bothers me too...

please feel free to add yours.

[Neo-Rio]

Another one that I find particularly bothersome is the word celeb, or celeb-life. Japanese use it to indicate the person is wealthy, completely removed from any aspect of the person's fame.

Maybe that tells you something about what kind of people are considered as being famous in Japan.

[Behan]

The word 'game'(ゲーム） has come to mean just video games among young people it seems.

[canman]

"Metabo" is the one that really gets to me. Hell your metabolism is according to Wiki,
"Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments."
So why has this now come to represent the lazy, the fat, the Otaku of Japan.

[American Oyaji]

I was thinking about that today with the word masucomi meaning any media outlet. I understand it comes from mass communications , but the usage is way off.

[Neo-Rio]

Can someone tell me what the hell "Netta--" means because it's dogged me for years and I still don't get it.

[bolt_krank]

Netta - can be a joke, or anecdote. I don't know where it comes from though. I'm sure it doesn't come from English though.

[Greji]

"Metabo" is the one that really gets to me. Hell your metabolism is according to Wiki,
"Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments."
So why has this now come to represent the lazy, the fat, the Otaku of Japan.

Now if you have just a bit protruding over the belt, they love to scream "Metabo, Metabo"

[CrankyBastard]

[IkemenTommy]

[traycerb]

i think these all fall under the general category of loanwords, but that term is insufficient in that it doesn't capture the idea that the loaned word has a new meaning seperate from the language it originated from.

English does this too. My french isn't so hot, but i think the phrase "maitre d'" alone in French is incomplete and nonsensical (to complete it you'd need something like maitre d'hotel), whereas in english it is a standalone word and has a very specific meaning.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Yeah, I'm getting tired of being told my fat ass is metabo. The misuse of "diet" fucking annoys me too. Since when were diet and exercise the same thing?

[Visitor K]

okay. my favorite was 'high tension' one day i asked a student how his day was and through smiling, tobacco stained teeth, he said 'high tension desu!' it took a few minutes to figure out that the japanese idea of high tension is more like exciting than stressful. even though i hated it at first, i soon found myself saying it...
arbeit, or german for 'work' was another one that i thought was funny.

[Behan]

Days off on the weekend were called 'holidays' by a lot of Nova students. But maybe that's appropriate with tendency to live at work here.