Ohayou everyone,
So, just so that I’m prepared…how many @#**%$ different ways are there to just say “girl”? I’m only in level 3 and I must have noted at least 5…
Curious.
Arigato.
Leon
girl
lady
young lady
young woman
lass
mademoiselle
I’m sure there’s more
Oh, did you mean in Japanese?
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Hey Leon, are you from a Spanish speaking country?
Cause… niña, chica, joven, señorita, pequeña, jovencita, dama, doncella, chava, cría, nena, infanta, muchacha, chiquita, chiquilla, mocosa, escuincla, morra.
And that’s just Mexico cause I don’t know what the rest of the Spanish-speaking world calls their young ladies!
To whit - synonyms! We all have them! It’s just we don’t notice cause they’re our own.
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There’s not really that many? 女, 女子, 女の子, 少女, and then it doesn’t look like WK covers 乙女 until waaaay later.
It’s not like “boy” is better, what with 男, 男子, 男の子, 少年, and I know I’ve heard 坊や and 坊ちゃん, though they’re not in WK.
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WaniKani teaches 娘, but only the daughter meaning
お嬢さん is taught here
In his defense, if you use “lass” or “mademoiselle” you will get weird stares. (And possibly slapped for “lass”, It’s both weird and condescending)
But obviously there are at least as many in English, and more in Spanish or French. Heck, I’ve heard chica used as a generic one by English speakers, plus the less polite chick, and the somewhat dated miss as generic terms for young women.
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While archaic, “lass” is still in regular use in some English dialects.
The most amusing new word I heard in Mexico was probably “perrijo/a” as a portmanteau of “perro/a” and “hijo/a”.
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You must know something about lass that I don’t, since to my (American) ears, it just sounds like an obscure word that wouldn’t be used because of obscurity and for no other reason.
Natives know of all these words though, and wouldn’t pause upon seeing them in a text, which, let us remember, is the purpose of WK (learning how to read)
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I’ve never heard that in Mexico and I absolutely love it. Is it more in the north, maybe? (Not discounting what you’re saying, just curious!)
As you say, too - I live in England now and I’ve been called “lass” a number of times, along with “bird” or “pet”, which is my favourite.
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And if we want to go really obscure, we can dig up dozens more Japanese words that have been used to refer to girls over time.
I heard it from a friend in CDMX. Well, technically we were in Edoméx just north of the city proper…
Wiktionary says lass is “still prevalent in Scottish English, Irish English, and Northern English dialects such as Geordie (Tyneside), Wearside/County Durham, Northumberland/Northumbrian, Teesside and Yorkshire”. It sounds much better than (also archaic) wench, which has developed some connotations that weren’t present in Middle English…
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We had a (I think) Scottish waiter when we were in Virginia last month. He non-ironically said lad and lass without missing a beat, so unless he was putting on some act, I’m guessing it’s still used fairly regularly.
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No one has mentioned 女性 or 婦人 yet either.
I’m not sure that one can ever be translated as girl.
That goes to show how much my Cedemequis slang has declined 
The North of England, along with Scotland, sounds super archaic the first few times you visit. Each region has its own dialects, too, and what works in Geordie will get you a smack if you say it to a Mackem even though they essentially live across the river from each other…
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When I was a child, my mother sang:
Did you ever see a lassie,
Go this way and that way,
Did you ever see a lassie,
Go this way and that?
Lassie was a popular show on the television at the time, so I pictured a collie running around.
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Words like that or 女の人 feel more “female” or “woman” than “girl”.
I could imagine お姉さん being translated as “girl” in some contexts, maybe?
I’m from the defectuoso DF now CDMX pa la banda
perrhijo and gathijo are common expressions
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