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

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