4 ms·

And then there's the whole business of Wasei-Eigo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasei-eigo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasei-eigo.

ekianjo 10y ago
Which is still going on strongly and introducing new words every year.
userbinator 10y ago
The associated list page is worth reading too, if only to see how much of the meaning you can guess just by looking at the first 3 columns of that table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gairaigo_and_wasei-eigo_terms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gairaigo_and_wasei-eig...
jrockway 10y ago
My favorite is "anime"; things went full circle and we got our borrowed word back!
- toufka 10y ago
  'Karaoke' too. Originally, 'kara'-'okestura' - a compound word short for 'box-orchestra'.
  - jrockway 10y ago
    The kara is not 空 as in empty?
    - glandium 10y ago
      It is.
      - frooxie 10y ago
        A weird detail is the Chinese transliteration of "karaoke":卡拉ＯＫ. It starts out with two Chinese characters pronounced "ka" and "la", and then tacks on the English "OK": ka-la-OK. So the English word "orchestra" turned into "OK" after two transliterations.
- xg15 10y ago
  Actually, I'm curious about that. I understand that "anime" in japan is a blanket term for all kinds of drawn animation, including western-style - so the meaning is more similar to US "cartoon" or german "Zeichentrick". But given that the distinct japanese style of animation and storytelling (what the west knows as "anime") has spawned a whole industry and subculture and has become part of japan's image in the world, it would seem to me to be too important to not give it a distinct name. So I wonder, is there a different term in japanese for it?
glandium 10y ago
The funny thing is when wasei-eigo is borrowed back with a different nuance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_intimacy#Skinship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_intimacy#Skinship

ekianjo 10y ago

Which is still going on strongly and introducing new words every year.

userbinator 10y ago

The associated list page is worth reading too, if only to see how much of the meaning you can guess just by looking at the first 3 columns of that table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gairaigo_and_wasei-eigo_terms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gairaigo_and_wasei-eig...

jrockway 10y ago

My favorite is "anime"; things went full circle and we got our borrowed word back!

toufka 10y ago
'Karaoke' too. Originally, 'kara'-'okestura' - a compound word short for 'box-orchestra'.
- jrockway 10y ago
  The kara is not 空 as in empty?
  - glandium 10y ago
    It is.
    - frooxie 10y ago
      A weird detail is the Chinese transliteration of "karaoke":卡拉ＯＫ. It starts out with two Chinese characters pronounced "ka" and "la", and then tacks on the English "OK": ka-la-OK. So the English word "orchestra" turned into "OK" after two transliterations.
xg15 10y ago
Actually, I'm curious about that. I understand that "anime" in japan is a blanket term for all kinds of drawn animation, including western-style - so the meaning is more similar to US "cartoon" or german "Zeichentrick". But given that the distinct japanese style of animation and storytelling (what the west knows as "anime") has spawned a whole industry and subculture and has become part of japan's image in the world, it would seem to me to be too important to not give it a distinct name. So I wonder, is there a different term in japanese for it?

glandium 10y ago

The funny thing is when wasei-eigo is borrowed back with a different nuance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_intimacy#Skinship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_intimacy#Skinship