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

From:nicole perrin <nicole.eap@...>
Date:Tuesday, January 16, 2001, 20:43
DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
> > > <G> There's an anime called _Utena_, I think, that features a pink-haired > > girl at some bizarre private school who goes around in boys' clothes and > > uses "boku" for herself. (The series, from what I've seen of it, is > > incredibly bizarre.) > > 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. > > Kou
I was similarly confused by the use of "boku." My boyfriend, who takes Japanese at school, had always told me that it was a masculine form and that it was what most of the high school guys in our school exchange program used. But then there's this Japanese pseudo-pop band, Pizzicato Five, with a female singer who usually uses watashi but sometimes boku, seemingly randomly. When I asked him about it he didn't have a great explanation. I turn to the list. Nicole