9
If you look 迷子 up in a monolingual dictionary, such as 大辞林 or 大辞泉 for example, it should include a note like まよいごの音変化 (sound change from mayoigo). So yes, it was originally まよいご and changed over time.
7
In osara, the o is indeed honorific and it is commonly written in kana as お, but sometimes also as 御. As you are likely aware, there is often some flexibility in choosing between kanji, hiragana and katakana to write any given text.
As for osara, it would usually be written as お皿, because the honorific o is usually written お and because sara is usually ...
6
There’s no really “correct” or “incorrect” when it comes to ateji like 明日{あした} or 大人{おとな}, you just have to pick something or least bad.
With jukujikun (kanji picked purely for meaning and not readings) it’s even worse since you may have not enough kana for the kanji. Some examples from Wikipedia:
kera (啄木鳥, woodpecker), gumi (胡頽子, silver berry/oleaster), ...
5
It's baseball jargon (see ３) for a type of fielding practice, but in this context the same term is used to mean repeated practice or drill in general.
Thanks to goldbrick for clarifying the baseball jargon.
5
I don't know the "authoritative definition", but according to Japanese Wikipedia, 重箱/湯桶 words are not kango:
「雑木」を「ぞうき」と読むような重箱読みや、「夕刊」を「ゆうかん」と読むような湯桶読みは、和語と漢語を複合させた混種語（和漢混淆語）であり、漢語の範疇ではない。
I think this explanation is natural. They are hybrid words (混種語). Hybrids are hybrids, and you should not force them into the classic three categories.
ケーキ屋: ...
4
Have you ever learned classical Japanese? As is the case with other languages, the meanings of many Japanese words have changed drastically over time. For example, 貴様 was a honorific word in the past, as the two kanji suggest, but it is a fairly rude and rough word now. The meanings of the components of a word can be forgotten. (See this and this for ...
4
Wow, lots of words with a wide variety of different meanings.
My mental picture of "somehow" is that there is this complex mechanism (how) that led to the outcome seemingly disconnected from the input and the speaker is trying to keep that a blackbox either because they don't know that mechanism or don't want to talk about it.
"Anyhow" to ...
4
経費 refers to the money needed to properly run a business. It includes both fixed running costs (including labor cost) and one-time costs (like airfare for business trips or expenses for new server machines). 経費で落とす is a common set phrase that means "to have it paid by the company" or "to put it on the expense account". Taxes are taxes and ...
3
アークウィザードを生業とし、～～
The し is the 連用形(continuative form) of the verb する. It can connect clauses, like the て-form. You can rewrite it as:
アークウィザードを生業として、～～ （← sounds more casual and modern）
AをBとする literally means "make A as B".
lit. "I make アークウィザード my job, and..."
For 「～を仕事とする」, 「～を～とする」, see:
What is this と?
For more on the 「～を～とする」「～...
3
This question is very close to being a duplicate of the one that Chocolate posted in the comments, but that question is written by someone who already knows the answer to the specific question you are posing here.
I wanted to ask to be certain: as 'sorry' can be used in English to express condolences as opposed to ask for forgiveness, can Japanese ごめん be ...
3
You may have misheard おとん/おかん, which are common informal ways of saying father/mother in Kansai dialect, as Chocolate mentions. This should be avoided in formal settings, but in informal settings, it is safe to use them to refer to the listener's parents, too.
If you really heard おとう and おかあ, these are fairly old-fashioned and dialectal ways of saying Father/...
3
I don't know about "vocabulary reading". Please ask about it elsewhere.
Anyway, the highest mountain in Japan is normally called ふじさん in Japanese. Fujiyama is more of a nickname used mainly outside Japan. From Wikipedia:
Mount Fuji
In English, the mountain is known as Mount Fuji. Some sources refer to it as "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama&...
3
Is it common to censor or soften 馬鹿 as ばしゃ?
No, it is not. As you can see in this page, ばしゃあぁぁ is an original word used by the particular character in that anime, created by the author. It's not used by or known to ordinary people in real life.
3
Would 「できる」 sound pretentious?
「できる」does not sound pretentious.
Alternatively I would also use 得意 as well.
「私は読むのは得意ですが、書くのは苦手です」
What about trying to express that one is "okay at" something (not good, but not bad either)?
In a casual context you can say 読むのはまあまあできる。or まあまあ読める。or you can explain it like 読むのは普通にできるけど、そんなに得意じゃない。
What about other ...
2
信念 seems to be about a somewhat abstract belief or faith in something, or for example trusting your own convictions.
信用 and 信頼 seem to be mostly about interpersonal trust or reliance. The difference, according to a page I found is as follows:
信用=信じて用いる、信じて受け入れる
I.e. to believe and accept, for example accord trust based on previous experience and results (of ...
2
～上【じょう】 is a nominal suffix that has many ways of translation, but here it is used in the sense "in the scope/discussion of —". English does not have a word that consistently matches it, but I hope you can get it from my examples.
編集上のミス an editorial (= during the editing work) error
編集的なミス an editorial (= typically editors-like) error
感覚上の反応 a ...
2
「生業【なりわい】」and「究極【きゅうきょく】」can be found in dictionaries.
WWWJDIC gives: 「生業【なりわい】」
(1) occupation; calling; (n) (2) livelihood
「究極【きゅうきょく】」
ultimate; final; last; eventual
「とし」is the 連用形{れんようけい} of 「とする」, (per WWWJDIC「とする」: (3) to take as; to treat as; to regard as). For details on 連用形{れんようけい}, please see this excellent answer.
アークウィザードを生業とし
As an arch ...
2
It is a working-class accent of たたきつけて. I feel it is べらんめえ口調(江戸言葉). https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%9F%E6%88%B8%E8%A8%80%E8%91%89
1
萌え is the kanji for もえ, so they are the same word.
Does 萌え only refer to feelings of affection toward imaginary characters or does it have other meanings like cute?
It can refer to real people/animals/things, but it has a very strong association with おたく. Unless you want others to know you identify as an おたく, it's best not to use it. It can have sexual ...
1
This answer is written as a supplement to Naruto's answer and a response to some of your comments on that answer. To put it simply, I think you are expecting an unrealistic level of systematicity from semantic drift. The ways that the meanings of words change over time is very hard to predict, and can be influenced by any number of things.
Assuming that ...
1
The following four words would be enough (listed in the descending order of importance):
お年寄り: Polite and safe. This is the first word Japanese children learn to politely refer to elderly people.
高齢者: Formal and stiff. Suitable in news articles, government documents, academic articles, etc.
ご年配【ねんぱい】の方: Even politer and more courteous than お年寄り.
ご老人: ...
1
I found the question
日本語の用法に関する質問です。 服を着ることを包むと表現しますか？
and the following answer
まず「身を包む」という言い回しがあります。 「スーツで身を包む／スーツに身を包まれた」という表現がよく使われています。
それが省略されて「スーツに包まれた」という表現も比較的よく使われているようです。 ただし、これは「着飾る」という意味で使われます。
単に服を着るだけでなく、おしゃれをし、盛装しているということで 場の雰囲気を考慮した装いをしていることを示しています。
which translates roughly as
The phrase "スーツに身を包む" is often used. It seems that ...
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