Talk:Japanese abbreviated and contracted words

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Portmanteau[edit]

The vast majority of this article is just referring to portmanteau words, which are by no means confined to Japan (think of 'brunch', 'internet' or even 'wikipedia'). I suggest merging this article into a subsection of that one. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 221.216.105.1 (talk • contribs) .

That may be a good idea, though I would equally support expansion of this page, if anything more can be found to be said. All it is right now is a list of examples, primarily. LordAmeth 16:49, 3 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Scope[edit]

Like Lord Ameth above, I'm wondering what the scope of this article is meant to be. Is it just illustrating the phenomenon? In which case a couple of examples of each type is sufficient. Or is it meant to be an exhaustive list? If so, it can easily be further expanded.

Some examples:

  • People's names- Shuwa-chan = Schwarzennegger; Dikapuri = Leonardo DiCaprio
  • 3-4 char loanwords- resuka = lemon squash; combini = :convenience store
It seems this section and the Abbreviations section are mixed up. Is it worth merging them, or better to have Japanese and loanword abbreviations separate?
  • Single letters- B/W/H/T = bust, waist, hips, tall (height) for giving tarento's "3-sizes"; H= sex (from hentai). Also I disagree that "S" and "M" are rarely used, although I'd say their usage is slightly broader than a strictly sexual sense. However, any statement about how common a certain language usage is runs the risk of being OR.
  • Also double letters are common- CM = commercial (message?); HP = homepage (still widely used?); GW = Golden Week

I'm sure there's others. --DrHacky 05:21, 10 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Others- NG = no good; W杯 = Soccer World Cup; NEET = no employment, education, training, for stay-at-home adult-aged children. I'll put these in the article if we're going to make it comprehensive. --DrHacky 06:00, 11 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
In my opinion, this article should not be an exhaustive list. We should not try to list every example. There are so many that a compilation would be a dictionary, not an encyclopedia article. Instead, we should organize information and illustrate statements with one or two (only giving three or more when they show something truly different from each other) well-chosen examples. Expansion of the article is good if it adds genuinely new information, not if it merely adds another example that illustrates what other examples already illustrate. In my opinion. Fg2 01:48, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm in two minds. There are other comprehensive lists for Japanese- List of gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms, List of Japanese terms mistaken for gairaigo- and this page would serve a similar function to them except with a different focus; that function being as a tool for students of Japanese confused when they come across various unfamiliar terms. There would be overlap between this page and the gairaigo page, which I would say is necessary and unavoidable, as this page mixes Japanese and gairaigo. On the other hand, adding too many examples loses the focus of the article and makes it less educational. Some abbreviations will be obvious to an English speaker- like eakon/air-con, and should only be given if they're especially common, while others will be so rare as to not merit a mention. A possible solution is to split this page, keeping this page for explanation and clear/notable examples, and making a "List of" page which is comprehensive, similar to how "Gairaigo/List of Gairaigo" is handled. --DrHacky 05:07, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
(Answering myself here...) After another think, a list of kanji abbreviations is quite useful, but I don't think it's so necessary to add gairaigo abbreviations to this page. Few gairaigo terms are imported directly without abbreviation, so the List of gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms page should be sufficient reference for them without need of duplication here. Save this page for the kanji abbreviations (like Mari's examples below) and perhaps also the 2-romaji initial terms which are also common (CM, etc). --DrHacky 03:14, 22 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Terms for inclusion[edit]

(section created --DrHacky 08:47, 16 August 2007 (UTC))[reply]

How about these?
  • 棚ぼた(棚からぼた餅)
  • 清ぶた(清水の舞台から飛び降りる)
  • アル中(アルコール中毒/alcoholic)
  • チョコ(チョコレート/chocolate)
  • エアコン(エア・コンディショナー/air conditioner)
  • 地デジ(地上デジタル放送)
  • NHK(日本放送協会/Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai)
  • 文科省(文部科学省)
  • 経産省(経済産業省)
  • 国交省(国土交通省)
  • 最高裁(最高裁判所/supreme court)
  • 参院選(参議院議員通常選挙)
I'll try to find some more.Oda Mari 15:34, 12 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
清ぶた　…　vulgar expression, flippant wording　　　 CutieNakky 17:46, 12 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
OK. Forget it.Oda Mari 18:44, 12 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]


I'll add these to the article at some point. Are there more examples of abbreviated foreign brand names, like Makudo (MacDonalds), Kenchi (KFC) and Sutaba (Starbucks)?

  • pasakon, suupa, deriheru, biichi sandaru = biisan, working holiday = waahori, taxi ticket = takuchike, godou konpanion paatii = gokon, SkyPerfectTV = sukapaa, DM= direct marketing, sefure= sex friend

--DrHacky 08:47, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As for Macdonalds, Makudo is used in Kansai area, it's Mac/マック in Kanto area.Oda Mari 08:57, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
People keep telling me this, but I'm sure when I lived in Tokyo 10 years ago either was used. Is this a strict rule or just a strong tendency? I guess things change. --DrHacky 10:08, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I know, it's a very strong tendency. In a news show, if my memory serves me right, 3 or 4 years ago, the reporter tried to find out where the boundary of the different usage and it was somewhere near Nagoya. People there use both words. I think it should be people from Kansai used Makudo in Tokyo and native Kanto-jin do not use Makudo. I am living in Kanto and it was a surprise when I first know that Kansai people used Makudo. I always thought it was Mac all over Japan.Oda Mari 13:43, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
DrHacky, please see these [1], [2], [3] Oda Mari 15:41, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I like the 2nd one with the nifty map, and the 3rd one (once I struggled through the Japanese) was amusing. Perhaps I've been hanging out with too many Kansai-jin since I came back, coz I prefer "makudo" (although MOS Burger tastes best).--DrHacky 05:22, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Dom Perignon (wine)/ドンペリ.Oda Mari 09:31, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

ID name chege[edit]

I can cengeed ID name. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ナカネコ (talk • contribs) 07:15, 27 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Should we replace "contraction" with Portmanteau?[edit]

both "contraction" and "portmanteau" on wikipedia suggest they are different things, and some wikipages use portmanteau to describe japanese words, should this page adapt to it? Can use "contracted word" in page though. Tmsndjk (talk) 11:53, 18 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

"w" - Single Letter Abbreviations[edit]

"w"'s common use on the internet is worth mentioning. 笑う (warau) is the verb "laugh". This is often shortened to "w" and used in much a similar way to the English "lol". For additional emphasis, several "wwwww" will often be used in a row in such a way that is thought to resemble grass, so it will sometimes be even further abbreviated to 草 (kusa), meaning "grass". SomeGuyNamedDavid (talk) 15:40, 23 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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