Profanity: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:17, 1 June 2006

Revision as of 05:45, 2 June 2006

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However, Japanese does have a number of patently offensive expressions which are banned in all broadcast media and frequently censored in text: examples include ''manko'' (マンコ, "vagina") and ''chinpo'' (チンポ, "penis"). If used, these and other offensive expressions are commonly printed with the central character replaced by the placeholder sign ''maru'' (〇), so ''manko'' becomes ''ma-ko'' (マ〇コ). This is directly equivalent to writing "fuck" as "f**k". For most parts, these terms carry only their literal meanings and cannot be used as insults per se, but some words like ''kusottare'' (糞っ垂れ, "shit-drip") and ''yariman'' (やり万, "whore") are strong invective on par with anything found in English. Milder exclamations allowed on TV include ''baka'' (ばか, "stupid"), ''bakayarō'' (バカヤロー, "idiot") and ''chikushō'' (畜生, beast).

Other extremely offensive words banned by the Japanese broadcasting code include ''mekura'' (盲, "blind"), ''tsunbo'' (聾, "deaf"), ''oshi'' (唖, deaf-mute), ''kichigai'' (気違い, "crazy"), ''hakuchi'' (白雉痴, moron/retard) and ''unko''/''unchi'' (うんこ/うんち, shit).

Many other offensive words relate to Japan's old caste system. Words such as ''hinin''(非人, nonhuman) and ''eta'' (穢多, plenty of filth) refer to the [[burakumin]].