Re: Japanese name-suffixes (was Re: Moi, le Kou)

DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
>
> It seems there was a discussion on this list about two years back about
> "boku", and a list member who was still in the field in Japan said, if I
> remember correctly, that she often heard high school girls using "boku" and
> other masculine forms. My female colleagues in Japan would occasionally
> adopt male speech patterns in faux gruff voices for humorous effect, and I
> suspect that may be what's going on. Since I'm not an animé aficionado
> (despite one of my student's most ardent efforts), I don't know if "Utena"
> goes for the laughs.
>
Definitely not for laughs, although there are humorous episodes in it.
But the character of Utena is definitely a tomboy. As mentioned before,
she insists on wearing a variant of the male school uniform, she can
beat half the boys at sports, and she's very straightforward in speech.

Laurie
milo@winternet.com
http://www.winternet.com/~milo
--
"Being bright does not grant an immunity to doing idiotic
things; more like, it just enlarges the possible scope."
     -- Lois McMaster Bujold