Usso (was: website birth (Nice job Ferko))

--- Irina Rempt <irina@...> wrote:
> On Wednesday 21 November 2001 06:00, D Tse wrote:
>
> > Usso (No way, in Jpn)!!  Eh, hiragana?  I think it
> > looks quite distinct for hiragana... but ok, if
> you
> > say so...
> >
> > It means literally, "Lie!" I note this because for
> a small amount
> > of time, among my circle of friends, that was our
> chosen expression
> > of disbelief...
Imperative, I know it literally means "lie" - but in
this context it refers to "no way (get out of
here)"... This is a very common expression in Tokyo,
among not only the natives but even (bilingual and
non-bilingual) foreigners.  The actual word is _uso_
with only only s!  I doubled the s here, because in
the context I'm using it, typically there is a
"chiisai-tsu" (little kana tsu) which intervenes the u
and s.  Another form could also be with the
"chiisai-tsu" following the final o, but it's harder
to convey in romanized writing.

> We use "I disbelieve!" for that. Usually, the spell
> doesn't work :-)
Irina, let me hear this when in Nederland.  Frankly,
I've never been very interested in Dutch, thinking it
would be quite boring due to its similarity to
English; but after reading some of these conlang mails
and prep'ing for my vacation there by reading my
guidebook/the net, this language is becoming more and
more intriguing to me.  ;-)

BTW, in Jpn, one could convey the same meaning by "(I)
cannot believe (it)" _shinjirarenai_.  This, however,
seems to connote a little stronger meaning than the
casual "no way" that I intend... like I find it
difficult to believe, but not necessarily
unbelievable.

Matt33

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