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> In Japan, the word otaku refers to people who have obsessive, minute interests—especially stuff like anime or videogames. It comes from a term for “someone el
by w1ntermute 16y ago
> In Japan, the word otaku refers to people who have obsessive, minute interests—especially stuff like anime or videogames. It comes from a term for “someone else’s house”—otaku live in their own, enclosed worlds.
Wow, when Glenn Greenwald spoke about the "worsening journalistic disgrace at Wired", I didn't realize it also included being too lazy to spend 1 minute looking up the subjects of articles on Wikipedia.
The use of "otaku" by the Japanese community and foreign communities interested in Japanese culture to refer to nerds (often themselves) actually originates from the (absofuckinglutely awesome, if I may add) 1982 anime series Super Dimension Fortress Macross, in which one of the characters used it to refer to other people. The original meaning of "otaku" not only includes "someone else's house" - it can also be used to politely refer to the person you're addressing.
It spread from there, first into print media geared towards the otaku (though it didn't go by that name yet) community and then into use by the community at large. In fact, the polite word for (someone else's) house, 「お宅」, and the slang for "nerd", 「オタク」, while both pronounced "otaku" are written differently and have very different connotations in contemporary Japanese.
- larrik 16y agoExcept that this isn't journalism. It's an essay written by comedian Patton Oswalt, presumably to publicize his upcoming book.
- w1ntermute 16y agoAnd that makes factual inaccuracy permissible? As a reputable publication, Wired has an obligation to uphold certain standards for all pieces it publishes, regardless of their purpose or format.
- drinian 16y agoI've heard a lot of speculation, including the "someone else's house" explanation, but never anything definite. Are you certain about SDF Macross originating the term? Also, Patton Oswalt's true sin here is grammatical, by pluralizing "otaku."
- w1ntermute 16y ago> Are you certain about SDF Macross originating the term? Well, I'd have to obtain a copy of Nakamori Akio's 1983 essay series 「『おたく』の研究」 (Investigation of "Otaku") for Manga Burikko to know for sure that SDF Macross was his inspiration, but it is the most concrete source I can find. All I know for sure is that Ichijyou Hikaru & Ling Mingmei use the term to refer to each other in the series. Edit: I've found it: Part 1: http://www.burikko.net/people/otaku01.html http://www.burikko.net/people/otaku01.html > なにかこういった人々を、あるいはこういった現象総体を統合する適確な呼び名がいまだ確立してないのではないかなんて思うのだけれど、それでまぁチョイわけあって我々は彼らを『おたく』と命名し、以後そう呼び伝えることにしたのだ。 Here he asks what we should call such people, and then suggests "otaku". > どうして『おたく』って名づけられたのかとか、『おたく』とは何 かなんて疑問には次回からゆっくりと本格的に答えていくことにして、 でもなんとなく感じつかめるでしょ、君の廻りを見廻してごらん、ホ ラいたいた、『お・た・く』が———— Here he says that the reason for the name will be discussed in the next part. > ところでおたく、『おたく』？ By the way, are you (in a bit of wordplay, he uses the "otaku" here to refer to the reader), an otaku? Part 2: http://www.burikko.net/people/otaku02.html http://www.burikko.net/people/otaku02.html > 『おたく』の由来については、まぁみんなもさっしがつくと思うけど、たとえば中学生ぐらいのガキがコミケとかアニメ大会とかで友達に「おたくらさぁ」なんて呼びかけてるのってキモイと思わない。 Fantastic - here it looks like he says he's not sure about the origin and has just heard people using it. Note: this is based on just a few semesters of studying Japanese - I'd appreciate help from anyone who knows the language better.