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Is there any reason to use the word uchu? It seems like almost everything (colour schemes, AI models, startups, tools, apps, ...) is named using a single random
by xanderlewis 2y ago
Is there any reason to use the word uchu? It seems like almost everything (colour schemes, AI models, startups, tools, apps, ...) is named using a single randomly-selected Japanese word these days. But... why?
- joseppudev 2y ago[dead]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- xanderlewis 2y agoSorry to be negative, but it does seem kind of overdone now. Funnily enough in Japan the same thing happens with seemingly randomly-selected English words, so I suppose it's not completely without precedent.
- Fnoord 2y agoThe Chinese (on e.g. AliExpress) do this, too. With... mixed results. Small typo's, for example. Intentional (NOKlA) or not. Or, case in point: "NICGIGA is a technology enterprise focusing on communication network products. We have a perfect R&D team and Reliability laboratory."
- skrebbel 2y ago> Intentional (NOKlA) I'm not sure what your point is exactly, but fwiw, Nokia is the name of the Finnish town from which the Nokia company originates. They used to make rubber products such as rubber boots. I once had a bike with Nokia branded inner tyres (same logo, just without the "Connecting People" payoff). There's absolutely nothing Japanese about the word "Nokia", except maybe in the eye (ear?) of the beholder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia,_Finland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia,_Finland
- grardb 2y agoGP is referring to "NOKLA" phones[1][2]. The "L" is intentionally lower-cased to make it look like a capital "I." [1] https://www.engadget.com/2009-04-01-keepin-it-real-fake-part-cxcv-nokla-n97-drops-two-is-fools.html https://www.engadget.com/2009-04-01-keepin-it-real-fake-part... [2] https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/nokla-mobile-phone.html https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/nokla-mobile-phone.html
- skrebbel 2y agoOh wow I had totally missed that. Nasty!
- d1sxeyes 2y agoI suspect rather [Nokian tyres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokian_Tyres https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokian_Tyres), rather than Nokia. Either way, yes, Nokia is for sure a Finnish word, not a Japanese one, but the confusion has been around [for more than quarter of a decade](https://www.wired.com/1999/09/nokia/#:~:text=A%20surprising,that%20work https://www.wired.com/1999/09/nokia/#:~:text=A%20surprising,...)
- Pinus 2y agoI definitely had Nokia wellies in the mid eighties. I think the boots-and-tyres brand name changed from Nokia to Nokian around 1990-ish.
- skrebbel 2y agoYes but this once was the same company. Eg this image from your Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokian_Tyres#/media/File:Nokia-winterreifen.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokian_Tyres#/media/File:Nokia... even has the same logo/font as Nokia used to have on their phones (except rendered here as an outline).
- d1sxeyes 2y agoHuh! My apologies, you are absolutely right.
- gwervc 2y agoThere is too much products or brands using a single English word being released too.
- efilife 2y agoThere are too many people who seemingly forgot that the word "are" exists
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- quectophoton 2y agoNewer generations growing up more familiar with Japanese culture (e.g. anime), videogames, and non-retro cultural references, naming things after words they find pleasant (for a lack of better word) to hear.
- NetOpWibby 2y ago"uchū" means "universe" in Japanese. I use this theme for all of my projects so...universal. I can't speak to anything else but personally, I love Japan style/aesthetic/whatever so I'm gonna use a word if it fits.
- retrochameleon 2y agoI interpret uchuu as "space"
- gamedever 2y ago"uchu" translates closer to "space" (spaceship -> uchusen), (alien -> uchujin), "I want to go to outerspace" -> "uchi e ikitai". You can't sub universe in those. Yes, a dictionary may use that translation, but watch a space documentary and they won't use "uchu" by itself for "universe". Also, in English, "universal" and "universe" are clearly related, but in Japanese, the concept of "universal" has almost nothing in common with "uchu"
- xanderlewis 2y agoIt’s true that the concept of ‘universality’ wouldn’t be expressed using a word like uchu — perhaps more likely something like fuhenteki (普遍的) or just fuhen ? — but this is how one Japanese dictionary chooses to define uchu: あらゆる存在物を包容する無限の空間と時間の広がり。 So it (if you trust this definition) refers to time as well as space. It’s slightly more abstract than just ‘space’. The Japanese entry corresponding to the English Wikipedia entry for ‘universe’ is also called 宇宙, though it is of course effectively about space. …considering it further, I think you’re completely right. I’ll leave what I’ve written above in case it’s of interest to others.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- NetOpWibby 2y agoMy apologies for not being fluent in the Japanese language. I didn't look deeper than WordHippo[1] for translation. --- [1]: https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the/japanese-word-for-244fb75b19415c9ee4f143b34b4b241236fb63f5.html https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the/japanese-word-for-244f...
- laurieg 2y agoShort, pronounceable words are scarce. If you want a 4-6 character project name Japanese words often fit the bill. Japanese culture is also very well exported.
- internet2000 2y agoJapanese words are just better Feng Shui. Everybody knows that.
- layer8 2y agoI mean it’s a color space. ;) And you can say: “I choose you, Uchū!” ;) But yeah, jūiro would have been more fitting.
- gbraad 2y agoWhat's next: 本(běn), "the root of all colors"?
- freeopinion 2y agoDoes it bother you to have a product name like Galaxy or Forester? It seems very odd to me that somebody would complain about single-word product names. Or are you complaining about the origin language? Or are you just jealous that somebody is using a two-syllable word instead of something like Navigator? Or perhaps you are peeved it isn't a single-syllable name like Chrome. Is a word like Ubuntu ok if it isn't Japanese? Or do you mean that words like Twitter and Yahoo should be phased out and everything should just be a single letter like X?
- its-summertime 2y agoWhich Galaxy? Do you mean Galaxy, Galaxy, Galaxy, Galaxy or Galaxy?
- xanderlewis 2y agoI'm not as bothered by it as you seem to think; I was more just pointing out that the trend of naming everything after random Japanese words is a bit stale — especially if there's no relation to Japan and you don't speak Japanese. > Or do you mean that words like Twitter and Yahoo should be phased out and everything should just be a single letter like X? Yes. Apart from my children, who will be named things like X Æ A-Xii.
- culi 2y agoPinterest names their design system "Gestalt" but they're not a German company. GitLab names theirs "Pajamas" but they're not primarily Urdu speaking.
- xanderlewis 2y agoYour second example is a bit disingenuous since the word ‘pyjamas’ is a perfectly normal English word, regardless of its etymology. As for the first: there isn’t a silly trend of naming everything after randomly-chosen German words, so at least it’s fairly original.
- 2y ago
- tannhaeuser 2y agoThrowing stereotypical random Japanese language and culture references around isn't exactly a new phenomenon, otaku culture and all. If anything, it can be considered retro at this point.
- jhanschoo 2y agoI suppose that short Japanese words have the advantage of being something that the Anglosphere knows about enough to be acquainted with, distant enough to not have too many opinions about, while also being easily pronounceable from the transliteration. If so, I'm going to provide a few examples: Other candidates with easily pronounceable romanizations (from an Anglophone perspective) that are more culturally proximate than Japanese: Italian, Spanish, Russian, Hawai'ian Other candidates with easily pronounceable romanizations (from an Anglophone perspective) that are more culturally distant than Japanese: Other Austronesian languages including Tagalog and Malay/Indonesian. (and many others, but fewer speakers)
- YurgenJurgensen 2y agoHaving heard enough Americans cringe-inducingly mangle Japanese, I’m going to have to disagree with you there. I had someone serve me an order of ’guy ohza’ just a couple of weeks ago. If the people selling the products can’t even pronounce the names correctly, I definitely don’t want to hear the customers’ attempts.
- GreenWatermelon 2y agoNo, this is just how languages generally work, how loanwords come to be, and how cultures influence each other.
- treyd 2y agoWhat's interesting to me is that a "good enough" approximation of Japanese phonology is pretty easy for native English speakers to express. The issue is just they have to understand the really consistent syllable structure to parse it out of the romaji.
- jhanschoo 2y agoYou have a point, English proper lacks the semivocalic-i after a consonant (as /Cj/), except where followed by /uː/. So also "Bee-ORN" for Björn, and "MA-fee-uh" instead of Italian "MA-fya" for mafia.
- CharlieDigital 2y agoJapanese and Scandinavian design have a long history of simplicity and subtlety; addition by subtraction and minimalism. Makes sense for projects with those principles in mind.
- stevage 2y agoThings need names. All the simple English words have been used many times. Seems logical to me.
- michaelcampbell 2y agoWait till you see their cat named "Neko".