Just came across #2414 and here's my story:

"Meaning is は CRAWL. Story: I like to CRAWL on the ROAD whenever I go home. Someone saw me and SAID "はあああああ"! 馬鹿外人! Believe it or not, the Japanese have a word for it: 夜這い (よばい) is enter stealthily into a girl's bedroom at night to make love; 夜這星 (よばいぼし) meteor; 這入る (はいる) 1: to enter; 2: to break into;3: to join; to enroll; 4: to contain; to hold; to accommodate; 5: to have (an income of). "

I find seriously funny that there is such a word in Japanese as 夜這い (よばい), which is, according to denshi Jisho, the "ancient practice of creeping at night into a woman's bedroom (lit: night crawling)". The Japanese definitely had interesting ancient practices!

I thought this could start a funny discussion about what other funny expressions or words you found in 日本語?

BTW "The japanese have a word for it" is the title of a book I have. It explains concepts such as "giri", etc., important in Japanese culture. I highly recommend it.
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Haha

Some typical gaijin should wear a shirt with it on it

My contribution to this thread: 辻斬り

Ha! 辻捕 (つじとり) taking a wife by kidnapping a woman passing by on the road

Good one. I wonder if gaijin are allowed to resurrect these time-honored traditional Japanese practices.

よばい originally meant marriage and is ultimately derived from 呼ばう, the other meaning developed later both because of the pun on 夜這い and the practice of the not-so-secret visit of the man to the woman's chambers as part of marrying someone.

(I think both words are obsolete nowadays and I'm not sure Japanese people would generally know what they mean although I suppose the kanji make the meaning pretty transparent.)

Try 嫁の尻叩き.

尻叩き(しりたたき) 1: spanking;
2: (Noun) (Archaism) ritual spanking of a new bride to encourage fertility

C'mon, baby. Let me encourage your fertility!

Hilarious.

I also found this word to be hilarious 寝取る

Tolerence91 Wrote:I also found this word to be hilarious 寝取る

This is a good one for when language partners you've just met ask you 「趣味は何ですか？」

the common phrase that has　that kanji is 四つん這い. Story being when "on all fours", the words spoken are all four letter 'street words'.

My favorite Japanese phrase is 金魚の糞 (goldfish poop), for someone who follows another person around (like being a yes man, or annoying, clingy guy following a girl around) like poop follows a goldfish.

Both of those phrases are modern.

The Japanese do have some interesting/crazy words. The ones I can think of:

雪見酒
森林浴

and of course the classic dirty ones:

マグロ女
絶対領域

Had to look the last one up, but I remember being amazed the Japanese have a word for..that area..

I like 木漏れ日

The sound of falling snow always enchanted me. しんしん。

夜這い was used in the drama 'Ninkyo Helper', when one of the old men creeped into his old sweetheart's room at night. In fact, I entered it into Anki many moons ago, so I have the line right here:「散々夜這い繰り返して今更純愛も何もないだろ」 So it's still used I guess.

Wow there words would make for an awesome motivational deck

I met a girl who described herself as a マグロ女, so that's common enough that random women in bars will occasionally use it I guess.

Tzadeck Wrote:I met a girl who described herself as a マグロ女, so that's common enough that random women in bars will occasionally use it I guess.

So she was trying to put you off her?

Did she describe herself as Maguro Onna, or Maguro?

I simply have never heard "Maguro Onna", but Maguro by itself is common IME.

(絶対領域 is a manga/anime term that most Japanese do not know. Most anime terms are known to the same groups of fans (and only the those groups) both in and out of Japan. Anime titles are even mostly unknown to Japanese since so many of them use "Kanji Joke" readings, that only anime fans (whether Japanese or not) would get. It's like knowing that some singer is called some 'nickname'. Those into a singer/group know it, but the average Japanese person doesn't, anymore than the average person in America knows which rapper is which.

kapalama Wrote:(絶対領域 is a manga/anime term that most Japanese do not know. Most anime terms are known to the same groups of fans (and only the those groups) both in and out of Japan. Anime titles are even mostly unknown to Japanese since so many of them use "Kanji Joke" readings, that only anime fans (whether Japanese or not) would get. It's like knowing that some singer is called some 'nickname'. Those into a singer/group know it, but the average Japanese person doesn't, anymore than the average person in America knows which rapper is which.

That's not entirely true. A friend of mine used that word at a 飲み会 and every single person was cracking up. They definitely all knew what it meant, because when he said it (about a girl who was dressed to provide the perfect example), everyone's head shot towards her and then laughed.

リア充

Being satisfied with your real (i.e. offline) life.

間接キス

Indirect kiss (drinking from someone else's cup)

十八番　（おはこ）

Usually used to mean the song you love to sing in karaoke. Apparently it's quite old fashioned. Whenever I say this it always gets a laugh.

Ryuujin27 Wrote:

kapalama Wrote:(絶対領域 is a manga/anime term that most Japanese do not know. Most anime terms are known to the same groups of fans (and only the those groups) both in and out of Japan. Anime titles are even mostly unknown to Japanese since so many of them use "Kanji Joke" readings, that only anime fans (whether Japanese or not) would get. It's like knowing that some singer is called some 'nickname'. Those into a singer/group know it, but the average Japanese person doesn't, anymore than the average person in America knows which rapper is which.

That's not entirely true. A friend of mine used that word at a 飲み会 and every single person was cracking up. They definitely all knew what it meant, because when he said it (about a girl who was dressed to provide the perfect example), everyone's head shot towards her and then laughed.

It's still an otaku word that is not in general circulation. It's just that major otaku trends get coverage on mainstream TV nowdays (via Shoko-tan etc) so many non-otaku will get it.

fakewookie Wrote:間接キス

Indirect kiss (drinking from someone else's cup)

Do japanese feel uncomfortable from drinking fro someone elses cup?

There are plenty of words like 樹齢, 入浴 etc that made me wonder if you actually need a dedicated word for something so specific. As for funny ones, 精通 usually means to have knowledge of something, but 大辞林 has a second usage 「男子が初めて精液を出す表現」.

Jarvik7 Wrote:It's still an otaku word that is not in general circulation. It's just that major otaku trends get coverage on mainstream TV nowdays (via Shoko-tan etc) so many non-otaku will get it.

Which would then make it a general use word ;-)

You are mistaking use with heard of.

When is the last time you heard someone say cowabunga?

Javizy Wrote:There are plenty of words like 樹齢, 入浴 etc that made me wonder if you actually need a dedicated word for something so specific. As for funny ones, 精通 usually means to have knowledge of something, but 大辞林 has a second usage 「男子が初めて精液を出す表現」.

I JUST read the word 樹齢 today--in ノルウェイの森 the narrator uses it when talking about the tree outside his dorm in the beginning of the book. So apparently it gets at least some use!

About the マグロ女, yeah, she used the full phrase. She actually was hitting on one of my friends from that night on, who eventually stopped talking to her because she was completely crazy.