Re: Idoru

--- Christophe Grandsire
<christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:
> En réponse EAndreas Johansson <and_yo@...>:
>
> > For the Japanophones on the list; am I correct in
> assuming that "idoru"
> > (as
> > in William Gibson's book-title) is a
> japanesification of "idol"?
> >
>
> If you mean the English word "idol", then no. "Idol"
> is in Japanese "aidoru"
> (japanifications are as phonetic as possible :)) )
> and refers to a very
> particular phenomenon. An "aidoru" is generally a
> very young girl or a very
> androgynous boy (or a group). They sing, appear in
> commercials and in TV
> series, make a single tour, and are forgotten six
> months later because
> new "aidoru" have appeared (it's extremely
> commercial I must
> say :)) ). "Aidoru" are directed towards a very
> specific commercial target: the
> young female teenagers (less than 16). In Western
> countries, an equivalent
> phenomenon has begun with the "boys bands" and
> carried on since then (things
> like the Spice Girls, 5, could be considered
> "aidoru" by the fact that their
> fans are mostly teenagers, but are a little too old
> already :) . Britney Spears
> at the beginning of her carrier fits exactly the
> "aidoru" scheme :)) ).
Wow, Christophe - not even a Japanophone, yet you know
all that!  Well, our replies about the word "aidoru"
match but I did not even consider the meaning of
"aidoru" in the sense you described!   Not sure, but
the JPN I'm surrounded by do not tend to talk about
those teenager-esque bands, so I never would have
heard "aidoru" used in that way.  (Guess I already
belong to the "enka"-listening generation! :-p

M.E.S.



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