Tuesday, December 26, 2006

日本語 The Japanese Language

The Japanese language is bestrewn with the corpses of terms unable to resist the onslaught of Western loan words. In this space I shall post belated obituary notices of obsolete Japanese. The index will be updated periodically. Contributions are welcome.
辻自動車: (tsujijidousha) literally, "self-moving vehicle at the street corner", better known as taxi
百貨店:(hyakkaten) "shop of a hundred items", now called depaato, from department store
庭球:(teikyuu) "garden ball", now tennis
玉突き(tamatsuki) "the striking of balls", or billiards
白墨(hakuboku) "white India ink", or chalk
受像機(juzoki) "image receiving machine", or television
写真機(shashinki) "reality-copying device", or camera
羽球(ukyuu) "feather ball", or badminton
受話器(juwaki) "conversation-receiving apparatus", or head-phones
配球(haikyuu) the game of "delivering the ball", or volleyball

1 comment:

AmitPal said...

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