Interesting Loanwords / Wasei Thread

There is a link in that article to another interesting article: Wasei Eigo: It's English but It's Not

In conclusion (of the first section),

IN KEY (インキー)
BED IN (ベッドイン)
GOAL IN (ゴールイン)
MY PACE (マイペース)
MY BOOM (マイブーム)
MY BAG (マイバッグ)
PINK SALO(N), PINK BIRA/CHIRASHI, PINK EIGA, ETC. (ピンサロ, ピンクビラ, ピンク映画, ETC.)
COST DOWN (コストダウン)
MANNER UP (マナーアップ)

Of course, ‘Level up’ is another interesting one.
Also, ‘my home’ and ‘my car’ have already appeared in this forum.

Oh yeah, these ones are really strange. I only scrolled through half the article so far, but I’m never going to think about “pink” things the same anymore…:confused:

Ok, this one is weird:

「バタ臭い」

Literally, “butter stink.” This adjective can be used to describe anything that reeks of the foreign and of Western or Westernized styles in particular (land of butter, apparently).

I’ve found some where I almost feel they got them from Norwegian (though it was probably just one of the other countries that use the same word)

Most amusingly is オナニー This is the exact wording we have! Onani =P
Comes from the bible, so they didn’t make it themselves :wink:
Means masturbation. Not used to seeing it used in English, but it might be just a less common word there for all I know.

I also like ウール It sounds enough like wool, but in Norwegian it is ull =^_^=

アルバイト is more or less confirmed comes from German, but we have it too so I still love it.
Arbeid means a job, not part time job though, which is what I love =P

But my fav is surprisingly enough a kanji, not katakana word (I found now, did not know!)
財布 - Saifu. Means wallet, not a safe place for your money! :wink:

Would be funnier if it was せいふ, since then the pun wouldn’t be a stretch.

Actually, when I first learned the word I thought it was a loan word from safe, as in a bank safe, but used in the wrong place :wink:
And believed so for years, until I found out today that it was a kanji word =P

But it’s not pronounced like safe…?

セーフ exists as a katakana word. As in safe in baseball.

I quite enjoy 「飲みニケーション」 (which I’ve also heard as 「ノミュニケーション」): communication while drinking :beers:

I have just saw a new one.
彼女はスタイルがいい。

パプリカ – it’s not just the spice – it’s the word for bell pepper.

I had the exact opposite with ペットボトル, because we also call them like that in Brazil. So it was very intuitive and I never gave it a second thought… Until I realized most foreigners around me were like “what the heck is a pet bottle?”

Languages are funny.

I always took アンケート to be closer to “questionnaire” or “survey”

1 Like

Yes, “survey” or “questionnaire”. I should have went with those. :slight_smile:

イクラ is borrowed from Russian икра́ (ikrá, “fish eggs, caviar”)

1 Like