29 December 2006

Japanese for Half-Assed People IV

Chō: : (cho): adj. Very

After a long hiatus, Japanese for Half-Assed People returns so that I can start to use this word again in my everyday English and have people understand me. I love this word and used it all the time, it’s so handy and fun: I’m chō tired; this train is chō late; Palau Jeff is chō kawaii.

In a very Japanese one-word-with-opposite-meanings, I thought that ‘chō,’ meaning ‘very’ was short for ‘chotto,’ which means ‘a little bit,’ but this is not the case. Japanese is a chō interesting language!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

yay! i heart JFHAP. my faves, via live action sailor moon via joel, are:

chotto matte!
hyakun!
uso!
ne?
sugoi!
minna, henshin yo!
ja!
odango atama.
BAKA!
daijobu!
moshi moshi!
kuroki. mio. (ok that one is technically someone's name and not a saying, but you'd be surprised how often we use it to describe a rival.)
muuun purisumu powa, maek up! (that's japanese, right?)

they're so cute with the tiny little eyes. too soon?

jolie-chan said...

david its maku apu...jesus he never pays attention to anything...

Tokyo Tintin said...

I think Palau Jeff would be technically "kakkoi" (格好いい - handsome), or perhaps "suteki" (素敵 - dreamy). Kawaii is more for baby bunnies as opposed to crazy-porno-fantasy fitness instructors.

Is 'hyakun,' hayaku perhaps? (速く meaning hurry up or fast).