Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I heard the phrase of "ぼくとお茶しませんか" from a rather odd Japan Times article by a presumably Japanese woman called Kaori Shoji. It's also mentioned elsewhere, such as in a native speaker's blog about Japanese.
It literally means "Won't you have green tea with me?", but there's two things I don't know.
What venue is implied by the phrase? Is it implied to be a public venue such as a cafe, or instead is it somebody's home?
Also, is the phrase still used nowadays, or considered out-dated?
ぼくとお茶しませんか is used to Nanpa described in that article.
For men, the favored tactic was nanpa (originally derived from the term nanjyaku, 軟弱 — which means softie) and this amounted to cruising the streets of Shibuya or Shinjuku, looking out for anyone cute who seemed available, and pulling out that famed and lamest of lines: “Bokuto ocha shimasenka? (「ぼくとお茶しませんか」, “Would you like to have a cup of tea with me?”).
If I want to say "Let's take a break" to my friends, I use
and others.
In this situation, 僕と/私と is left out because it emphasizes "with who?" more than needs. So ぼくとお茶しませんか？ is too politely, and it appears odd.
Also, is the phrase still used nowadays, or considered out-dated?
As one of Nanpa tactic, it maybe still used.
However, I have an impression Nanpa is outdated culture...
What venue is implied
At least traditionally, Kissa-tens. Kissa-tens used to be cool until around the 80's together with this phrase. Note that "tea" here doesn't mean green tea. Kissa-ten's primary attraction is coffee and to a lesser degree english tea.
Also, is the phrase still used nowadays, or considered out-dated?
I would say mostly outdated.
