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Thread: Japanese must be wondering why Americans have such weird names

  1. #1
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
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    Red face Japanese must be wondering why Americans have such weird names

    Imagine a Japanese learnin English who would like to check the following nick names in a dictionary thinking they are just common nouns. What would they find ? Sometimes it is necessary to think about the meaning in British English (BrE).

    Art : oh, I like arts too
    Bill : bill of rights, electricity bill ?
    Kit : tookit, Kit-kat ?
    Kitty : Kitty-chan !!
    Cliff : cliffhanger, definitely
    Kris : dictionary says "Malay/Indonesian dagger with wavy edged blade", sounds dangerous.
    Gene : DNA ?
    Ginger : the gingerbread man !
    Sue : probably a lawyer
    Stew : I love beef stew !
    Chuck : Don't chuck that at me !
    Dick : no comment
    Fanny (vagina in BrE)
    Randy : Let me introduce you to my randy friend.. erh, I mean my friend Randy.
    Nick (means "prison" in BrE)
    Mat : table or door mat ?
    Rod : must belong to a fisherman (I wouldn't want to be named Rod Fisher )
    Ray : the rays of the sun warm my heart
    Barby : like the doll or the adj. of barber ?
    Herb : ok you can smoke, but don't abuse.
    Pat (offensive term for an "Irishman" in BrE)

    Now imagine our Japanese learning English is just hearing these names. What will it sound to his/her ears ?

    Doug => dog ?
    Brad => blood ? (Brad Pitt > blood pit, eurk !)
    Rick => lick ?

    With a bit a (superfluous) logic, the same Japanese person will try to imagine the possible inflexion of the word not found in his/her dictionary.

    Hatty => must be the adjective of hat
    Dolly => same for "doll" (my friend Barby is so dolly !).
    Connie => adjecive of con artist ?
    Sadie => I feel so sadie today...
    Carrie => must be the singular of caries
    Bab => must be short for baboon, babylon or baba
    Hal => halal ?


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  2. #2
    Hi Keiichi's Avatar
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    Oh man, that's hilarious.
    K1

  3. #3
    Junior Member
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    Thsi one i gt from FRIENDS.

    Joey-- Baby Kangaroo

  4. #4
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Belle
    Thsi one i gt from FRIENDS.

    Joey-- Baby Kangaroo
    You must be Australian then !

  5. #5
    You SPAM/We BAN !
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    I Always Felt Like....

    a side of beef! FLANK !

    Frank

    TAKE WHAT I SAY WITH A GRAIN OF SUGAR !!
    I USED TO BE FUNNY, BUT MY WIFE HAD ME NEUTERED!

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maciamo
    You must be Australian then !
    No not Australian atall

  7. #7
    okonomiyaki=bliss duff_o_josh's Avatar
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    glad my name isnt in that list of wierdness
    ooo~

  8. #8
    Cs’†
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    Mine could be. It means "valley," so I guess my Japanese name could be tani.

  9. #9
    Twirling dragon Maciamo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn
    Mine could be. It means "valley," so I guess my Japanese name could be tani.
    Yes, in Scottish, but don't expect any Japanese to know that.

  10. #10
    Cs’†
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    I suppose not, because most Americans don't know it.

  11. #11
    The Entertainer (^_~) Sakura's Avatar
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    some of your spellings of the names, and "British English" translations I didn't agree with, but I can't be bothered to quibble. lol.
    By the way, it intrests me that the Americans call "British English" when English is English. (From England) lol (^_~)
    So now when I'm speaking to my friends I refer to American English as "Amerikago" lol

    Anyway, some names are universal too, here are just a small few I could think of which are both Japanese & Western names:

    Ken
    Mari / Marie
    Naomi
    Hana (Hannah)
    Risa / Lisa (Ok, I know there is no "L" in Japanese, but my friend spells her name "lisa" in romaji.)
    Kai (Also German name)
    Ben
    Mika (like Finnish F1 Racing Driver - Mika Hakkinen) Also his replacement - Kimi Raikkonen - sounds Japanese name
    I have a friend Maiko too, her name's pronounciation sounds abit like Michael.
    I think there could be lots more examples, I can't think of at moment, but if anyone can think of anymore, it would be interesting.

  12. #12
    Where I'm Supposed to Be kirei_na_me's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sakura
    Risa / Lisa (Ok, I know there is no "L" in Japanese, but my friend spells her name "lisa" in romaji.)
    I understand that, because for our son's name, we spell it "Lyukai" instead of "Ryuukai". Much simpler that way.
    i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)

  13. #13
    Samurai Golgo_13's Avatar
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  14. #14
    The Entertainer (^_~) Sakura's Avatar
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    Pardon for seeming ignorant
    But I have only heard of Shaq & LaToya.
    Who are the other celebs please?

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