27
votes
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Why is this funny?
Because it is like a famous Japanese poet 相田{あいだ}みつを's style of writing.
He often used the word だなぁ. And おもさをたいせきでわる is not funny in itself, it is a mathematical sentence.
I give a little ...
- 24.2k
19
votes
Accepted
Why is ふとんがふとんだ a pun?
A pun is a play on words exploiting homophones or similar-sounding words.
The pun in [布団]{ふとん}が[吹っ飛んだ]{ふっとんだ} The futon was blown off is that it sounds almost like 布団が布団だ A futon is a futon, the ...
- 48.2k
19
votes
孫悟飯 - Songohan, why non-Japanese say it comes from "gohan = meal/cooked rice"?
It's a pun. In fact, many, many of Dragonball's characters are puns on food (or food-related) items:
サイヤ人 Saiyajin from [ヤサイ]{野菜}人 "vegetable people"
ベジータ Vegeta from ベジタブル "vegetable"
ウーロン Oolong ...
- 48.2k
9
votes
Accepted
Are those kanas "しい" ? (text found on a banner)
Yes, it is しい. There is a bit of a play-on-words happening here.
[禿]{は}げ means "bald(ness)", but is being written in katakana on the top line (ハゲ[頭]{あたま}). The entire bottom row says ハゲ〜しい[熱戦]{ねっ・せん}...
- 44.1k
9
votes
How do Japanese people use 🅱️-substitution, if at all?
Is this a thing ever done in Japanese text
If you specifically mean "replacing B/C (and only B and C) with the red/squared emoji 🅱️", then, no, that has never been a thing in Japan. I did not know ...
- 315k
8
votes
Accepted
7
votes
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Translation of ハッピーニューイヤーンバカーン
イヤーンバカーン is an cliched, interjection-like set phrase. いやーん (嫌ーん) literally means "no" or "I dislike it" and ばかーん (馬鹿ーん) is "idiot." It's not a refusal but rather an aged, stereotyped word used when a ...
- 315k
7
votes
Accepted
"Otomatone", is it made by combining "sound" and "hand"?
I think your sources are probably wrong. Firstly, it is not otomatone but otamatone. As Wikipedia says, オタマトーン{otamatōn} is made by combining オタマジャクシ{otamajakushi} (tadpole) and トーン{tōn} (tone). I've ...
- 517
6
votes
Accepted
“Uncle's jokes !?”
It is called おやじギャグ and is also called ダジャレ.
Here are 100 examples: http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2136602894164225401
- 24.2k
6
votes
Translation of the phrase: 生きる水 in context
This song is full of puns. After looking at the line for a few seconds, I thought this was probably a comical reference to 生きる道 ("way of life"), which is a recurring phrase used in poems and ...
- 315k
6
votes
Accepted
Literal rendition of 死ぬほど
My literal translation would be:
Today, when you thought about death, is the same day those who died yesterday would have killed to live.
As you can tell, I am not a native speaker of English and ...
- 20.8k
5
votes
Is “Hello Kitty” a pun for “I’m excited”?
Playing around myself over at Google Translate, I find that はろうきてぃ with the properly small ぃ translates to "Hello". See for yourself here. I only get "I'm excited" if I forget to make the ぃ small ...
- 37.4k
5
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Is “Hello Kitty” a pun for “I’m excited”?
Is it a coincidence that it kind of sounds like “Hello Kitty” when I plug it into Google Translate, but translates to, “I’m excited”?
Yes.
I mean, it's a disastrous translation.
Machine translations ...
- 420
5
votes
Accepted
Riddle question
Assuming the beginning is 「どうぞ」 and not 「どくぞ」, then it is quite simple.
The sign says ごじゆうに おとりください. The store owner's intended meaning is ご[自由]{じ・ゆう}に, which means "freely" or "feel free to". ...
- 44.1k
5
votes
Accepted
What does "ニセサマ" (nisesama) mean? It was in Chuunibyou
This appears to be an onslaught of wordplay.
The character's name is 丹生谷【にぶたに】 森夏【しんか】. Her given name is made up from two kanji, 森 and 夏 which both have more than one reading — a kun'yomi (kun ...
- 48.2k
5
votes
Why is this funny?
I read “おもさをたいせきでわるんだなあ みつど” by verbatim as;
重さを体積で割るんだなあ、密度 – It’ s weight divided by volume, density, isn’t it.
Though I’m not good at mathematics, the density of material can be measured in ...
- 9,525
4
votes
How does はっとばすぞ translate as "Don't make me hit you"?
はっとばす is simply a sound change of 張り飛ばす, so はっとばすぞ by itself just means "I'll slap you." 張る can mean "to slap." See the 5th definition here.
But note that it's only the latter half of the sentence. ...
- 315k
4
votes
Help with a Japanese joke: the link between メダカ and 小学生
I think it's a reference to a famous children's song めだかの学校, where a school of めだか is...er, a school of めだか.
短い答えでごめんなさい。
- 315k
4
votes
Who can explain the pun/wordplay on “onitada” in the story “Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun”
It's not a pun. According to sources, it's abbreviated 鬼のごとく正しい ("correct like an oni", "demonically correct"). It's not a set phrase ordinary people recognize. The heroine somehow ...
- 315k
4
votes
Trying to understand ツッコミ and 突っ込まない and similiar
It's a pun on つっこむ. It reads つっこむべき？いや、つっこまれ・・・じゃなくて！=literally, Should I do ツッコミ, no, I'm on the side receiving ツッコミ.
One meaning is the one corresponding to ツッコミ in comedy. A type of comedy talk ...
- 37k
3
votes
What does "ニセサマ" (nisesama) mean? It was in Chuunibyou
ニセサマ means 偽物{にせもの}のモリサマ(Fake Morisama). Morisama is a nickname that the main character 丹生谷 森夏 used in internet. One day, a girl who said "I am Morisama" appeared. I think this girl wrote ニセサマ on ...
- 24.2k
3
votes
Accepted
Sexual joke/pun with メスブタ and オスブタ
メスブタ is used when people insult women. This オスブタ is a parody of メスブタ.
め is used when people insult something or themselves.
It means "a pig that covets anything", and it is similar to 欲張り.
We ...
- 24.2k
3
votes
Accepted
Can 牛 be an insult?
I think it depends on the context. But maybe...
In キン肉マン(kin-niku-man), an old famous manga, many heroes have a kanji on their forehead. Be affected by this manga, writing a kanji on the sleeper's ...
- 627
3
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is お死枚 a pun on 四枚?
Maybe a pun for おしまい（お終い）? – Chocolate
It is indeed a pun but not for お四枚.
For further information, this is a kind of [当て字]{あてじ} .
Among the heavy metal music circle, motorcycle gangs or even ...
- 15.3k
3
votes
Literal rendition of 死ぬほど
I'm a bit confused by the question and the answers here where there's all this talk about literal translations but no one seems to be noticing the たい of 死にたい or 生きたい. This is completely glossed over.
...
- 10k
2
votes
Sound effect らん with unknowing meaning, and meaning of pun 裂けて 避けた
The somewhat monotonous tone of this らん reminds me of the sound of Japanese 踏切 (railway crossing) since this is a song about trains, but its sound is usually カンカン. I'm not sure if it's really related. ...
- 315k
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