Japanese Pronouns Survey

Yes, that is helpful. I would like to know who bastardizes 私 that way though-is it kansai-ben? Some other kind of rural?

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I hear it a lot from feminine girls (esp in shoujo anime) - it’s a cute way of saying わたし

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I missed that too at first, but it says it right above the definition:

高松の方言

Not sure if it’s specific to Takamatsu or it extends further into whatever Shikoku dialect is spoken there, but at the very least it’s used there.

So it’s the Takamatsu dialect equivalent of あたし, basically.

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I use わし from time to time. I’ve been told it comes off as trying to be high and mighty.

I’m not trying to be arrogant, I’m older, and I’m lazy…

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Couldn’t really explain it, but I find あたし more aesthetically pleasing as a sound than わたし. Since that seems have a decidedly feminine side to it, I’ll stick with ぼく. I mean, if this was English, I wouldn’t get too caught up on performative gender roles, but I feel a little out of my depths to wade into that in an unfamiliar culture so I’ll stick with the one that doesn’t make people wonder if I’m trying to express something or if it’s just another sign of my poor grasp of the language, haha.

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No, you’re right. There’s nothing inherently rude about using あなた in a real life conversation. In fact, in a married couple situation, many wives refer to their husband as あなた directly (likened to the English “darling”). If you’re in a situation where you need to ask a question, and you need to use あなた because that’s the easiest way for you to do so, then there’s nothing wrong with using it. For example, あなたの名前は何ですか?If you could use a more polite version of the question (お名前は?) then maybe the listener will assume that you know more Japanese and reply accordingly.

What I mean with politeness in real life is people try to acknowledge others as a specific, individual person, meaning that if you can refer to the other person in another way, i.e. name, title, “young lady/man,” etc. then that makes the listener feel like you’re addressing them in particular and not someone else. I guess in English, an example would be like, “Young lady” (someone of that description turns around) vs “Hey you” (everyone turns around).

If I remember correctly, あなた actually refers to everything beyond the speaker, and that basically translates to “you” in English. In a business letter that addresses various people, you could use あなた for example. The same thing when you’re giving a speech and you’re addressing the body of audience and not specifically one person in the crowd.

If I’m typing live in a chat setting like an RPG game, I would definitely avoid あなた because it’s too easy to type あんた and that would easily be taken the wrong way. (In fact, I had to go back and edit two of my あなたs because I actually did that. :sweat_smile:)

Another fun fact for those who are interested is あなた used to be a more polite word that you would use to address people of higher status directly. However, that level of politeness has changed quite a bit so now it’s used when both parties are about equal status.

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As for me I use わらわ to refer to myself.

It’s funny how politeness changes sometimes. お前 was the same I recall - used to be polite (as in addressing nobility polite even), now it’s about as informal as it gets :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Same goes for 貴様 which is now downright disrespectful.

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‘おたし’ was just a typo because I was a little more focused on figuring out how to get the Japanese input on Windows working than having correct spelling :sweat_smile:

I love the discussion though, maybe my next typo will be intentional, lmao.

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I figured it might be :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: I think by the time I replied to you you had even edited it to あたし already.

I was actually surprised to see おたし is a thing, even if it’s just a specific dialect’s way of saying あたし.

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I’ve heard anime girls say あたし. I don’t know how common it is in the real world though.

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I mean, most people vary their pronouns based on situation (eg: for a young man, 俺 with friends, 僕 with family, and 私 when needed is common).

Also, I don’t know why 俺様 of all things is included but actually used ones like うち or 自分

ごめん… I don’t know much about the commonalities of pronouns.

I’ve heard a streamer say it when she accidentally broke character, so I guess it’s at least used sometimes.

A quick search also turned up this stackexchange post, which is ten years old but does suggest it’s at least somewhat common. Though more recent stuff I find suggests young women these days tend to use うち more than あたし.

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Nice thread. At first I was worried it was heading into dangerous territory and I would need to admit I identified as a 車 but all good. My secret is safe…

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We could make a new pronoun out of わた(しゃ) :joy:

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This is a decent article that should give you an idea: Japanese First Person Pronouns: Beyond WATASHI

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I like it :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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People who identify as eagles also have a convenient option.

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As for what I feel fits me, it would be 俺

But I’m so used to saying 私 that I just keep using it