Alex goes on a rant about weeaboos. Continue at your own risk

"Anon" (tjsielsistneb)
07/18/2014 at 00:53 • Filed to: None

For those of you who don't want to see me talk about that, here's a french 911.

Despite popular opinion there are some very talented people who write fan fiction. I kid you not when I say that some of the people who write this stuff, write better than some actual published authors.

However, what's not so great about some fan fiction is that it's like a Smart Roadster. You have a good engine, perfect weight balance, rear wheel drive, mid engine lay out. But then you have one of the most god awful transmissions to ever exist attached to this machine that was almost automotive nirvana! Much the same with fan fiction one thing can completely ruin an otherwise good story. And it makes you upset not because the story itself was bad, but because it had the potential to be so much better. And do you want to know what ruins 90% of the ones I read? Throwing in Japanese words for no reason.

Now in anime, honorifics in names (Sama, Kun, Chan, chitty chitty bang bang, etc.) can be used as major plot points for how characters refer to each other. So it's understandable when those are added into English subs of shows. However when a person is writing and they decide to start using honorifics in names, in English, in a story that was conceived in English, it completely takes you out of the story.

You know what else takes you out of a story? Using actual Japanese words, not for any reason, just because. Using honorifics can at least be excused but have a goddamn character say "Hai" instead of "yes". How about "arigato" instead of saying "thank you"! However my personal favorite I've seen as to be fucking "Tadaima" do you know what that means without googling it? Cause I sure as hell don't. If I have to google what your randomly placed Japanese word means, you're not doing something right! It just boggles my mind as to why a person who is writing would do that. And that really is the question. WHY? So to finish up my rant, I'm a nerd who has nothing better to do than complain about how some 16 year old screwed up an otherwise good Evangelion fan fic.

DISCUSSION (36)

GhostZ > Anon
07/18/2014 at 00:55

Most people try to write what they think good writing should look like, instead of actually creating good writing. I blame how we're taught English in schools, which has to do more with comprehension and grammar than communication or creating new ideas.

The Transporter > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:05

Tadaima is an underground Japanese word. You probably haven't heard of it.

Kat Callahan > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:10

It means "just now." We use it in Japanese to mean "I've just now returned." It is answered with "okaerinasai" or "welcome back."

That said, I don't have an issue with honorifics in English. It happens all the time in a mixed Japanese/English environment. Or, you know, my other job. I do have an issue with random Japanese words scattered throughout fan fiction, but I don't read any fan fiction anymore.

A note, weeaboo is a modification of wapanese which itself is a modification of whigger which is a modification of... Yeah. That word. The whole etymology of the word is pretty terrible and I pretty much hate it.

Anon > The Transporter
07/18/2014 at 01:11

Hipster Weaboos: because you didn't think it could get any worse.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:21

the only fan fics I read have words like 'turgid', 'torrent' and 'glistening'

Anon > Kat Callahan
07/18/2014 at 01:22

Are you sure about that etymology? From what I heard Wapanese came from "Wanna be Japanese". This term became popular on the 4 Chan boards and then a word filter changed it to Weeaboo, referencing the use of the non sense word in Perry Bible Fellowship comic strip.

Anon > beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard
07/18/2014 at 01:24

Well who doesn't love a good Turgid Glistening Torrent?

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:26

That's me. Turgid , glistening torrents. and milky white spray across your cheek as you buck your hips and grip your stiff rod.

White water rafting dude. it's exciting stuff.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:27

Kinja'd!!!

Weren't glass headlamps a no-no in the US?

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:28

>4chan

Never go on /b/.

Anon > Kat Callahan
07/18/2014 at 01:29

Also I should note that I don't mean to seriously offend to anybody by calling them a weeaboo, that's the last thing I'd want to do! I mean people that are obsessed with Japanese culture may be weird but most of them are good people who don't deserve to be seriously made fun of.

PS9 > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:40

Making your readers google random japanese words in your fanfic? fuyukai desu...

(How unpleasent)

Kat Callahan > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:50

Absolutely, I was there on 4chan when it happened. Long story short, I was one of the original exiles from 2chan a loooooong time ago. You are right about the Perry Bible Fellowship Comic, and you're right about the word filter, but wapanese came from whigger, which means white.... yeah, that... It referred to basically young white guys in the fandom, not just "wanna be Japanese." That might be a retroactive revisionist idea to distance the term from its obviously deeply offensive beginning.

Anon > PS9
07/18/2014 at 01:50

did someone say...Fuyutsuki?

Anon > Kat Callahan
07/18/2014 at 01:53

Well, whatever it means, it's still not a nice thing to seriously call someone.

Kat Callahan > Anon
07/18/2014 at 01:53

Indeed not. And as a white immigrant to Japan, I side-eye it particularly hard.

YSI-what can brown do for you > Anon
07/18/2014 at 02:02

My friend and I say Japanese words in conversation. Actually we only use 1. Gaijin. Why? Tokyo drift. Usually, whenever people use other languages unnecessarily, they are trying to show off. I hate them.

The J > Anon
07/18/2014 at 10:55

Reminds me of this every time. Pointless stupid and hilarious.

Kinja'd!!!

anacanapana > Anon
07/18/2014 at 11:35

Kinja'd!!!

MattThorn > The J
07/19/2014 at 00:47

Was this an actual subtitle? Because if it was, the person who did that deserves some sort of punishment or fine or sanction or whatever you English speakers call .

MattThorn > Anon
07/19/2014 at 00:56

I agree. I've been translating manga for 23 years, and I have always bent over backwards to avoid using Japanese words when a decent English equivalent exists, and even when one doesn't. (The exception is Wandering Son , which I am currently translating and strongly urge one and all to buy, but the reasons for that exception are complicated.) I am currently advising an acquaintance who is writing a "girls' love" story set in Japan. I encouraged her to remove all of the superfluous Japanese words, but she said that her academic advisors (she's writing this in lieu of a Master's thesis, I believe) are actually encouraging her to "make it more Japanese." I don't even know what that means. Do they imagine that Japanese can't talk among themselves without constantly referring to their own Japaneseness? Or maybe they don't believe Japanese can possibly have the same sort of conversations English speakers do, because they are so alien or something? Is it really a problem if your readers become so absorbed in your story that they forget the characters and setting are Japanese?

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Anon > MattThorn
07/19/2014 at 01:08

Tell your friend that some random person on the internet told her that her "academic advisers" don't know jack shit. That being said, do what it takes to get the grade.

Sally O'Broder > Kat Callahan
07/19/2014 at 20:44

You're entirely off about the etymology. You say you were there, but I think the meta nature of the point has been lost on you.

Weebs are outrageous time wasters. Remember the original comic? "We are wasting entirely too much time on weeaboo". That's what weeaboos do. The modification came from what they do, so it works. Its just not a nice thing to say unless its true.

My biological mother is a huge weeb, and she wastes ungodly amounts of time and money to the point where she actually ruined her life after offending a number of people and getting kicked out of the serious Japanese-culture circles she was participating in, upon which her answer was to double-down on weeaboo to the point of financial ruin on Supplemental Security Income . She will go up to random Yamato-looking people and babble sentences with random Japanese so broken as to make the entire sentence unintelligible, a habit she picked up from attempting purely Japanese sentences in a similar manner often enough to have it backfire from anyone who actually speaks the language. Even after being called out on it multiple times, she continues to be insulting, especially as she refuses to understand that failing at Nihongo does not make her polite, it makes her a pariah given any Japanese people she is bound to encounter in the midwest - even visiting - and this is something she refuses to accept even after being repeatedly told about things like most traveling Japanese people knowing English, let alone any, y'know, Americans no matter how old or traditional.

If she did understand it, it would probably force her to stop spending so much time on weeaboo. She does not often demonstrate any dedication towards actually learning something, instead preferring to waste her time.

Not only that, but she's almost gotten herself killed repeatedly because of how stubborn she's been with it. I should know; I spent several hours trapped in an ER with her after she had a fall because she wouldn't wear some damn normal, appropriate shoes. Hell, she's so hipster-shallow when she's in weeb-mode that she didn't even know how to appropriately handle those damn shoes in the rain. She's created abominations such as "Snacky-desu!" which much to my chagrin has become a joke that a friend decided to run with. Augh. I still rage even thinking about any of it.

She calls me "Kojiro" in public. Like, seriously and unironically. Its part of my gamer tag. She's a never-ending fountain of cringe, and unlike any typical internet hate machine output she can control herself and not do any of it, its just that she chooses not to. Even though its all almost killed her repeatedly, as soon as she gets into even remote stability she backslides back into fantasy land right all over again. Augh.

She could do so much, but the weeaboo...it holds her back. Its everything that the Perry Bible Fellowship comic was.

There's even more to it than just any of this, too, but this post has me uncharacteristically burnt out.

The cognate in Japanese would be otaku as used in Japan, for sure. Since we kind of ruined that word when we imported it, we had to make our own.

They ruined my high school's attempt at having a Japan club (in its twilight wreckage all five of us left just met during lunch to play DDR or something), for almost a decade drove up the price of imported goods in my area like hipsters driving up the cost of housing, and have generally been a nuisance and bane of my existence. I'm actually serious about my Japan stuff - I'm effing psycho for the D.C. Sakura - and asides from being a general annoyance, weebness has actually made things harder for me. Not only me, but other serious people I've known. I know someone that actually went over there and became an Idol, and naturally accusations of weeb got lobbed at her nonstop despite being the first American ever to be serious about this stuff and perhaps the only one to ever legit make it for a little while, only to get called a time-waster because of all of the time-wasters who are why we can't have nice things.

Look, it isn't a nice thing to call someone. Totally isn't. It's not a nice thing to be, and it absolutely isn't a term to be thrown around lightly. Still, the word has its place and a legitimate meaning despite its other relation. Its just as much if not more about the time-wasting aspects than it is any of the racial ones, especially given Japanese =/= Yamato-anything. Instead of getting on a euphamism treadmill, let's just try and maintain a context appropriate use of the term and not throw it around as an insult. I can see why "wapanese" got wordfiltered into weeaboo, because weeaboo describes it all perfectly. Especially given how much time 4chan was wasting on it. I say we keep it especially given the whole corruption of otaku thing.

I understand that as someone who is in the process of becoming Japanese that the idea of a "wannabe Japanese" is especially hurtful. Maybe you've just never known anyone as bad as my biological mother or the people who overran my Japan club.

Sally O'Broder > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
07/19/2014 at 20:44

I quit /b/, and nothing of value was lost.

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > Anon
07/19/2014 at 20:47

Remember the rules of oppo, man?

Sally O'Broder > Anon
07/19/2014 at 22:58

You know, this post makes me realize with much gratitude that I am not at all unusual in trying to make analogies and metaphors out of automotive things, I'm just a gearhead. Huh.

Seriously people act like I'm speaking a foreign language when I'm making the simplest of comparisons, like that time I got really upset about Diablo III .

starkruzr > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura
07/20/2014 at 23:34

Remember when /b/ was good?

A Pissed Off Pimp > Kat Callahan
07/21/2014 at 04:53

I think you mean "slant-eye"

Kat Callahan > A Pissed Off Pimp
07/21/2014 at 05:19

Oh, racism how cute.

A Pissed Off Pimp > Kat Callahan
07/21/2014 at 20:15

Learn to take a joke, man...er...woman...er....CHEESE IT! *runs*

Kat Callahan > A Pissed Off Pimp
07/21/2014 at 21:30

Woman, and your sense of humor is shitty.

A Pissed Off Pimp > Kat Callahan
07/23/2014 at 19:39

And I'm supposed to care...why?

Kat Callahan > A Pissed Off Pimp
07/23/2014 at 21:41

Well, guess being a decent human being isnt one of the reasons.

A Pissed Off Pimp > Kat Callahan
07/23/2014 at 21:59

Yes but having a good sense of humour decent human being.

Kat Callahan > A Pissed Off Pimp
07/23/2014 at 23:17

True, but it's also not compatible with being a racist.

A Pissed Off Pimp > Kat Callahan
07/24/2014 at 00:12

Except for the bit where I'm no racist. I said slant-eye. So what? Some white people have slanted eyes due to Downs Syndrome. And I hate to pull the "black friend" card, but my roommate in college was from Africa and was a great guy. Good friend.