Baka (fool)
Encyclopedia
Baka is a frequently used Japanese
word meaning "fool; idiot; jerk; dolt; imbecile; foolish; stupid; worthless; absurd; ridiculous; idiotic".
baka "fool; idiot" is usually written 馬鹿 (lit. "horse deer") in kanji
or ばか in hiragana
, or occasionally バカ in katakana
. Archaic ateji
phonetic kanji transcriptions of baka include 莫迦 and 破家. In current internet slang
, it is abbreviated BK.
In the Chinese language
, these same 馬鹿 "horse deer" characters transcribe the word malu "Red Deer
". Mumashika is a rare alternate Japanese reading of 馬鹿 that names "a yōkai
demon with a horse's head and deer's body". The ca. 1832 Hyakki Yakō
Emaki 百鬼夜行絵巻 "100 Demons' Night Parade Picture Scroll" depicts it with one eye, horse mouth and ears, and deer horn and hooves.
A Bunmei
-era (1469–1487) edition of the Setsuyōshū
dictionary notes baka 馬鹿 is also written 母嫁 (lit. "mother bride") or 馬嫁 (lit. "horse bride"), glossed as "bankruptcy and disorder" caused by a "fool".
of baka is uncertain, but two prevalent hypotheses are a Chinese Qin Dynasty
literary allusion or Sanskrit argot
used by Japanese Buddhists.
First, baka 馬鹿 ("horse deer") is associated with the Chinese idiom zhi lu wei ma 指鹿為馬 (lit. "point at a deer and call it a horse", Japanese shika o sashite uma to nasu) meaning "deliberate misrepresentation for ulterior purposes". Zhao Gao
was an infamous eunuch who served the first emperor Qin Shi Huang
(r. 246-221 BCE) and forced the second Qin Er Shi
(r. 210-207 BCE) to commit suicide. The Shiji history records that Zhao devised a loyalty test using a deer and horse.
This etymology first appears in the ca. 1548 Unbo irohashu 運歩色葉集 dictionary, which glosses baka 馬鹿 as meaning "指鹿曰馬" "point at a deer and say horse". The 11th-century The Tale of Genji
contains an earlier reference.
Second, the Edo Period
scholar Amano Sadakage 天野信景 (1633–1733) suggested that Japanese Buddhist priests coined the word baka "fool" from Sanskrit
. The linguist and lexicographer Shinmura Izuru
's Kōjien
dictionary gives two possible etymons of moha 慕何 "foolish" and mahallaka 摩訶羅 "stupid". Sanskrit moha means "bewilderment, loss of consciousness, delusion, folly" and comes from the root muh "bewildered, perplexed, confused" (Arthur Anthony Macdonell
1954:236). Sanskrit mahallaka means "senile, feeble minded, stupid, decrepit" compares with mūrka "dull, stupid, foolish, inexperienced"', and comes from the root mūrkh "coagulate, thicken" (Macdonell 1954:220, 232).
Other proposed etymologies for baka are less attributed. Two Edo-era dictionaries proposed baka derived from: ōmaka 大まか "generous; unsparing" (Rigen shūran 俚言集覧) or bokeru 惚ける "grow senile; dote; become feeble-minded" (Matsuya hiki 松屋筆記). The Japanese ethnologist Kunio Yanagita
proposed that bakamono 馬鹿者 "fool; idiot" (see below) derives from wakamono 若者 "young person; youth", through w- to b- onbin 音便 "euphonic change".
and thesauruses, the lexicographer Michael Carr (1982:2-3) differentiates eight interrelated meanings.
Three basic "fool; foolish" meanings distinguish baka1 "ass; jerk; fool", baka2 "ament; idiot; imbecile; fool" (ament is a rare but politically correct word for "mentally deficient"), and baka3 "blockhead; dullard; dimwit; simpleton; dolt; fool". These are found in many frequently-used Japanese expressions. Some more insulting lexemes are bakamono 馬鹿者 "stupid/born fool", ōbaka 大馬鹿 "big fool damned idiot", and baka-yarō 馬鹿野郎 "stupid jerk, ass, asshole, dumbass". Some compounds
are baka yoke 馬鹿ヨケ "foolproof; idiot-proof", baka warai 馬鹿笑い "foolish/horse laugh" and baka zura 馬鹿面 "foolish face; stupid look"; and some verb phrase
s are baka ni suru 馬鹿にする "make a fool of (someone); treat with contempt", baka yobawarisuru 馬鹿よばわりする "call (someone) a fool", and baka o miru 馬鹿を見る "make a fool/ass of (oneself)".
Two extended meanings of baka4 "worthless" and baka5 "excess" expand upon "folly; foolishness". Baka4 "worthless; foolish; valueless; trifling; insignificant" is used in expressions such as bakageta 馬鹿げた "foolish; absurd; ridiculous"; bakana 馬鹿な "foolish; silly; stupid"; and bakarashii 馬鹿らしい, bakabakabarashii 馬鹿々々らしい, or bakakusai 馬鹿臭い all meaning "foolish; absurd; ridiculous". It is further used in phrases like baka ie 馬鹿言え "Nonsense!; Go on!", and bakana mane o suru 馬鹿な真似をする "do a foolish thing; act foolishly". Baka5 "excess; foolish; absurd; extreme; extravagent" is found in a number of expressions: bakani 馬鹿に or bakabakashiku 馬鹿々々しく "awfully; terribly; extremely"; bakayasui 馬鹿安い "ridiculously/dirt cheap"; bakane 馬鹿値 or bakadakai 馬鹿高い "ridiculously expensive"; bakateinei 馬鹿丁寧 "excessive politeness"; and bakashōjiki 馬鹿正直 "honest to a fault".
Three special meanings are unrelated semantic connections. Baka6 "trough shell" is a truncation of bakagai 馬鹿貝 "trough shell; Mactra chinensis". Baka7 "numbness (of limbs)" is used in the expression baka ni naru 馬鹿になる, and baka8 means "(an antique kind of) coin counter".
(chap. 16, tr. Varley 1994:210) records bakamono 馬鹿者 being used as an insult in 1342. The Ashikaga commander Toki Yoritō 土岐頼遠 refuses to pay obeisance to retired Emperor Kōgon
(r. 1313-1364), "Yoritō, probably inebriated, loudly demands to know what kind of fool (bakamono) has the temerity to order him to dismount." "Shinmura (1930:101) found that the original editions (fourteenth century) of the Taiheiki had baka written バカ", writes (Carr 1982:2), "later movable-type editions (c. 1600) had the characters 馬鹿."
In contemporary Japanese, baka is "the most commonly used" swearword (Bernabe, Niimura, and March 2004:151).
of using insults like baka can be language specific. For instance, Japanese has fewer words for calling someone a "fool" than English. Jack Seward (1976:167) recounts asking his language teacher "to prepare a list of the most stunning and forcible insults, pejoratives, and curses in Japanese", but was surprised that the "short, unimaginative, and seeming ineffectual" list had only two words: baka "fool" and chikushō 畜生 "beast".
Carr proposes that intentional vagueness
explains the comparatively small lexical field of Japanese insults.
show regional variations between using baka in Kantō region
dialect and ahō 阿呆 or あほ "fool; idiot; jackass" in Kansai region dialect. In addition, the insult ahō has more of a slang connotation than baka. Many Japanese dictionaries treat the words baka and ahō as synonym
s. "However, in Osaka and its surroundings, aho is a rather non-offensive word, whereas baka is an explosive word", Bernabe, Niimura, and March (2004:151) explain, "In Tokyo and its surroundings, we find exactly the opposite, so you must be careful with the usage of these words."
, Ai no Baka
"Love Fool") and songs (Suki Sugite Baka Mitai
"To Like [him] Too Much and Look Like a Fool"). Some titles from modern Japanese literature
are Tsuribaka Nisshi
("Fishing Fool's Diary"), Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs
("Dog Fool"), and Baka to Test to Shōkanjū
("Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Creatures").
, baka was American military slang
for the Japanese ohka
櫻花 (lit. "Cherry Blossom") kamikaze
flying bomb (Evans 1997:11-12). The earliest recorded usage (Russell 1947:113) was in Newsweek
(May 7, 1945), "American forces have officially designated this bomb as 'baka', baka being Japanese for foolish, silly, or stupid."
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
word meaning "fool; idiot; jerk; dolt; imbecile; foolish; stupid; worthless; absurd; ridiculous; idiotic".
Word
The Japanese insultInsult
An insult is an expression, statement which is considered degrading and offensive. Insults may be intentional or accidental...
baka "fool; idiot" is usually written 馬鹿 (lit. "horse deer") in kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
or ばか in hiragana
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
, or occasionally バカ in katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
. Archaic ateji
Ateji
In modern Japanese, primarily refers to kanji used phonetically to represent native or borrowed words, without regard to the meaning of the underlying characters. This is analogous to man'yōgana in pre-modern Japanese...
phonetic kanji transcriptions of baka include 莫迦 and 破家. In current internet slang
Internet slang
Internet slang is a type of slang that Internet users have popularized, and in many cases, have coined. Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes. Many people use the same abbreviations in texting and instant messaging, and social networking websites...
, it is abbreviated BK.
In the Chinese language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, these same 馬鹿 "horse deer" characters transcribe the word malu "Red Deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
". Mumashika is a rare alternate Japanese reading of 馬鹿 that names "a yōkai
Yōkai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...
demon with a horse's head and deer's body". The ca. 1832 Hyakki Yakō
Hyakki Yako
thumb|300px|"Hyakki Yakō" by [[Kawanabe Kyōsai]], collected in [[British Museum]]Hyakki Yakō was a Japanese folk belief. The belief holds that every year yōkai, the Japanese supernatural beings, will take to the streets during summer nights. Anyone who comes across the procession will die, unless...
Emaki 百鬼夜行絵巻 "100 Demons' Night Parade Picture Scroll" depicts it with one eye, horse mouth and ears, and deer horn and hooves.
A Bunmei
Bunmei
was a after Ōnin and before Chōkyō. This period spanned the years from April 1469 through July 1487. The reigning emperor was .-Change of era:* 1469 : The era name was changed to mark an event or a number of events...
-era (1469–1487) edition of the Setsuyōshū
Setsuyoshu
The was a popular Muromachi Period Japanese dictionary collated in iroha order and subdivided into semantic categories. The title word setsuyō means "reduce usage; economize" and alludes to the Lunyu...
dictionary notes baka 馬鹿 is also written 母嫁 (lit. "mother bride") or 馬嫁 (lit. "horse bride"), glossed as "bankruptcy and disorder" caused by a "fool".
Etymology
The etymologyEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of baka is uncertain, but two prevalent hypotheses are a Chinese Qin Dynasty
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
literary allusion or Sanskrit argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
used by Japanese Buddhists.
First, baka 馬鹿 ("horse deer") is associated with the Chinese idiom zhi lu wei ma 指鹿為馬 (lit. "point at a deer and call it a horse", Japanese shika o sashite uma to nasu) meaning "deliberate misrepresentation for ulterior purposes". Zhao Gao
Zhao Gao
Zhao Gao was the chief eunuch during the Qin Dynasty of China. He played an instrumental role in the downfall of the Qin Dynasty.- Early life :...
was an infamous eunuch who served the first emperor Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
(r. 246-221 BCE) and forced the second Qin Er Shi
Qin Er Shi
Qin Er Shi , literally Second Emperor of Qin Dynasty, personal name Huhai, was emperor of the Qin Dynasty in China from 210 BC until 207 BC.-Name:...
(r. 210-207 BCE) to commit suicide. The Shiji history records that Zhao devised a loyalty test using a deer and horse.
Zhao Gao was contemplating treason but was afraid the other officials would not heed his commands, so he decided to test them first. He brought a deer and presented it to the Second Emperor but called it a horse. The Second Emperor laughed and said, "Is the chancellor perhaps mistaken, calling a deer a horse?" Then the emperor questioned those around him. Some remained silent, while some, hoping to ingratiate themselves with Zhao Gao, said it was a horse, and others said it was a deer. Zhao Gao secretly arranged for all those who said it was a deer to be brought before the law. Thereafter the officials were all terrified of Zhao Gao. (tr. Watson 1993:70)
This etymology first appears in the ca. 1548 Unbo irohashu 運歩色葉集 dictionary, which glosses baka 馬鹿 as meaning "指鹿曰馬" "point at a deer and say horse". The 11th-century The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
contains an earlier reference.
Kokiden flew into a rage. "A man out of favor with His Majesty is expected to have trouble feeding himself. And here he is living in a fine stylish house and saying awful things about all of us. No doubt the grovelers around him are assuring him that a deer is a horse. (tr. Seidensticker 1976:268)
Second, the Edo Period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
scholar Amano Sadakage 天野信景 (1633–1733) suggested that Japanese Buddhist priests coined the word baka "fool" from Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
. The linguist and lexicographer Shinmura Izuru
Shinmura Izuru
was a Japanese linguist and essayist. His is best known for his many contributions to Japanese linguistics and lexicography. In honor of him, Shinmura Izuru Prize is annually awarded to contributions to Linguistics.- Background :...
's Kōjien
Kojien
The is a single-volume Japanese dictionary first published by Iwanami Shoten in 1955. Many native speakers of Japanese regard the Kōjien as the most authoritative dictionary, and newspaper editorials frequently cite its definitions...
dictionary gives two possible etymons of moha 慕何 "foolish" and mahallaka 摩訶羅 "stupid". Sanskrit moha means "bewilderment, loss of consciousness, delusion, folly" and comes from the root muh "bewildered, perplexed, confused" (Arthur Anthony Macdonell
Arthur Anthony Macdonell
Arthur Anthony Macdonell , 7th of Lochgarry, was a noted Sanskrit scholar.Macdonell was born in India and educated at Göttingen University, then matriculated in 1876 at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gaining a classical exhibition and three scholarships...
1954:236). Sanskrit mahallaka means "senile, feeble minded, stupid, decrepit" compares with mūrka "dull, stupid, foolish, inexperienced"', and comes from the root mūrkh "coagulate, thicken" (Macdonell 1954:220, 232).
Other proposed etymologies for baka are less attributed. Two Edo-era dictionaries proposed baka derived from: ōmaka 大まか "generous; unsparing" (Rigen shūran 俚言集覧) or bokeru 惚ける "grow senile; dote; become feeble-minded" (Matsuya hiki 松屋筆記). The Japanese ethnologist Kunio Yanagita
Kunio Yanagita
was a Japanese scholar who is often known as the father of Japanese native folkloristics, or minzokugaku.He was born in Fukusaki, Hyōgo Prefecture. After graduating with a degree in law from Tokyo Imperial University, he became employed as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce...
proposed that bakamono 馬鹿者 "fool; idiot" (see below) derives from wakamono 若者 "young person; youth", through w- to b- onbin 音便 "euphonic change".
Meanings
Based on semantic analyses of baka 馬鹿 entries in Japanese dictionariesJapanese dictionaries
Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic dictionaries...
and thesauruses, the lexicographer Michael Carr (1982:2-3) differentiates eight interrelated meanings.
Three basic "fool; foolish" meanings distinguish baka1 "ass; jerk; fool", baka2 "ament; idiot; imbecile; fool" (ament is a rare but politically correct word for "mentally deficient"), and baka3 "blockhead; dullard; dimwit; simpleton; dolt; fool". These are found in many frequently-used Japanese expressions. Some more insulting lexemes are bakamono 馬鹿者 "stupid/born fool", ōbaka 大馬鹿 "big fool damned idiot", and baka-yarō 馬鹿野郎 "stupid jerk, ass, asshole, dumbass". Some compounds
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
are baka yoke 馬鹿ヨケ "foolproof; idiot-proof", baka warai 馬鹿笑い "foolish/horse laugh" and baka zura 馬鹿面 "foolish face; stupid look"; and some verb phrase
Verb phrase
In linguistics, a verb phrase or VP is a syntactic unit composed of at least one verb and the dependents of that verb. One can distinguish between two types of VPs, finite VPs and non-finite VPs . While phrase structure grammars acknowledge both, dependency grammars reject the existence of a...
s are baka ni suru 馬鹿にする "make a fool of (someone); treat with contempt", baka yobawarisuru 馬鹿よばわりする "call (someone) a fool", and baka o miru 馬鹿を見る "make a fool/ass of (oneself)".
Two extended meanings of baka4 "worthless" and baka5 "excess" expand upon "folly; foolishness". Baka4 "worthless; foolish; valueless; trifling; insignificant" is used in expressions such as bakageta 馬鹿げた "foolish; absurd; ridiculous"; bakana 馬鹿な "foolish; silly; stupid"; and bakarashii 馬鹿らしい, bakabakabarashii 馬鹿々々らしい, or bakakusai 馬鹿臭い all meaning "foolish; absurd; ridiculous". It is further used in phrases like baka ie 馬鹿言え "Nonsense!; Go on!", and bakana mane o suru 馬鹿な真似をする "do a foolish thing; act foolishly". Baka5 "excess; foolish; absurd; extreme; extravagent" is found in a number of expressions: bakani 馬鹿に or bakabakashiku 馬鹿々々しく "awfully; terribly; extremely"; bakayasui 馬鹿安い "ridiculously/dirt cheap"; bakane 馬鹿値 or bakadakai 馬鹿高い "ridiculously expensive"; bakateinei 馬鹿丁寧 "excessive politeness"; and bakashōjiki 馬鹿正直 "honest to a fault".
Three special meanings are unrelated semantic connections. Baka6 "trough shell" is a truncation of bakagai 馬鹿貝 "trough shell; Mactra chinensis". Baka7 "numbness (of limbs)" is used in the expression baka ni naru 馬鹿になる, and baka8 means "(an antique kind of) coin counter".
Usages
The first recorded usages of baka were in the Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392). The TaiheikiTaiheiki
The is a Japanese historical epic , written in the late 14th century. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the Northern Court of Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto, and the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino....
(chap. 16, tr. Varley 1994:210) records bakamono 馬鹿者 being used as an insult in 1342. The Ashikaga commander Toki Yoritō 土岐頼遠 refuses to pay obeisance to retired Emperor Kōgon
Emperor Kōgon
Emperor Kōgon was the 1st of Ashikaga Pretenders during the Period of the Northern and Southern Courts in Japan...
(r. 1313-1364), "Yoritō, probably inebriated, loudly demands to know what kind of fool (bakamono) has the temerity to order him to dismount." "Shinmura (1930:101) found that the original editions (fourteenth century) of the Taiheiki had baka written バカ", writes (Carr 1982:2), "later movable-type editions (c. 1600) had the characters 馬鹿."
In contemporary Japanese, baka is "the most commonly used" swearword (Bernabe, Niimura, and March 2004:151).
Pragmatics
The linguistic pragmaticsPragmatics
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
of using insults like baka can be language specific. For instance, Japanese has fewer words for calling someone a "fool" than English. Jack Seward (1976:167) recounts asking his language teacher "to prepare a list of the most stunning and forcible insults, pejoratives, and curses in Japanese", but was surprised that the "short, unimaginative, and seeming ineffectual" list had only two words: baka "fool" and chikushō 畜生 "beast".
Carr proposes that intentional vagueness
Vagueness
The term vagueness denotes a property of concepts . A concept is vague:* if the concept's extension is unclear;* if there are objects which one cannot say with certainty whether belong to a group of objects which are identified with this concept or which exhibit characteristics that have this...
explains the comparatively small lexical field of Japanese insults.
One likely reason for the relatively few Japanese words for 'fool' is vagueness. In both English and Japanese, the words for 'fool' have meanings that vary along scales of friendly-hostile, or joking-serious. In English, at one end of a scale are words like silly goose and at the other end are words like stupid asshole. And in Japanese, at one end are words like kamabokoKamabokois a type of cured surimi, a Japanese processed seafood product, in which various white fish are pureed, combined with additives such as MSG, formed into distinctive loaves, and then steamed until fully cooked and firm. The steamed loaves are then sliced and served unheated with various dipping...
baka 蒲鉾馬鹿 'silly chump' and at the other end are words like baka-yarō 馬鹿野郎 'damn fool'. The difference is in the degree of lexical diversification along the scales of meaning. English seems to have more 'fool' words with more specificity – Japanese seems to have fewer 'fool' words with more vagueness. There are decided pragmatic and communicative advantages to such lexical vagueness. If you call me a stupid son-of-a-bitch, I know exactly what you mean. But if you call me a baka-yarō, I cannot be so sure of what you mean. The expression baka-yarō 馬鹿野郎 is one of the most insulting terms in the Japanese lexicon, but it is vague and can range in meaning from an affectionate 'silly-willy' to an abusive 'jerk-off fool'. Baka-yarō is so widely used that it has become semantically weak and vague. Such vagueness can serve to conceal hostility and thus to maintain social harmony. (1992:14-15)
Dialectal
Japanese dialectsJapanese dialects
The comprise many regional variants. The lingua franca of Japan is called hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo , and while it was based initially on the Tokyo dialect, the language of Japan's capital has since gone in its own direction to become one of Japan's many dialects...
show regional variations between using baka in Kantō region
Kanto region
The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....
dialect and ahō 阿呆 or あほ "fool; idiot; jackass" in Kansai region dialect. In addition, the insult ahō has more of a slang connotation than baka. Many Japanese dictionaries treat the words baka and ahō as synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
s. "However, in Osaka and its surroundings, aho is a rather non-offensive word, whereas baka is an explosive word", Bernabe, Niimura, and March (2004:151) explain, "In Tokyo and its surroundings, we find exactly the opposite, so you must be careful with the usage of these words."
Proper names
Baka frequently occurs in proper nouns. Examples from Japanese pop music include albums (Pretty Little Baka GuyPretty Little Baka Guy
Pretty Little Baka Guy is a 1986 album by the female Japanese rock trio Shonen Knife. It was re-released in the US as side one of a record/tape, with side two being Live In Japan...
, Ai no Baka
Ai no Baka
is Yuki Uchida's fourth album , released in Japan on 23 March 1996 on King Records label . It charted n°20 on Oricon charts.-Tracks list:# # # Baby's Universe# # # # # # #...
"Love Fool") and songs (Suki Sugite Baka Mitai
Suki Sugite Baka Mitai
is the first single released by Japanese pop group, Def.Diva. It was released on October 19, 2005. This single hit the #1 of Oricon charts, and sold 45,000 copies, around 46,822-Track listing:#Suki Sugite Baka Mitai 4:56...
"To Like [him] Too Much and Look Like a Fool"). Some titles from modern Japanese literature
Japanese literature
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
are Tsuribaka Nisshi
Tsuribaka Nisshi
' is a fishing manga by Jūzō Yamasaki and Kenichi Kitami that has been serialized in Big Comic Original since 1979. It won the 28th Shogakukan Manga Award in 1983...
("Fishing Fool's Diary"), Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs
Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yukiya Sakuragi. Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump, and published in the United States by Viz Media with a preview in the new Animerica.-Plot summary:...
("Dog Fool"), and Baka to Test to Shōkanjū
Baka to Test to Shōkanjū
also known as Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts is a Japanese light novel series created by Kenji Inoue and illustrations by Yui Haga...
("Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Creatures").
English
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, baka was American military slang
Military slang
Military slang is an array of colloquial terminology used commonly by military personnel, including slang which is unique to or originates with the armed forces. It often takes the form of abbreviations/acronyms or derivations of the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, or otherwise incorporates aspects of...
for the Japanese ohka
Ohka
The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka was a purpose-built, rocket powered human-guided anti-shipping kamikaze attack plane employed by Japan towards the end of World War II...
櫻花 (lit. "Cherry Blossom") kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
flying bomb (Evans 1997:11-12). The earliest recorded usage (Russell 1947:113) was in Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
(May 7, 1945), "American forces have officially designated this bomb as 'baka', baka being Japanese for foolish, silly, or stupid."
External links
- ばか, WWWJDICWWWJDICWWWJDIC is an online Japanese dictionary based on the electronic dictionaries compiled and collected by Australian academic Jim Breen. The main Japanese–English dictionary files contain around 150,000 entries, and the ENAMDICT dictionary contains over 720,000 Japanese names...
- ばか【馬鹿, 莫迦, 破家】, jeKai
- Stupid Shorts, Hanzi Smatter