this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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I'm not a native speaker, but I've heard Japanese doesn't have any outright curses. That is, there are no words which are always bad, just bad in certain contexts.
Omae and Kisama were how one would refer to emperors. There are no more emperors so referring to someone that way is always sarcastic.
I don't know the word but there's one Japanese word that means "stupid" but is basically the equivalent to the r-word in English. It's banned from being said on Japanese television.
The word you're probably thinking of is kichigai. But there are oceans of words that you can't use on TV in Japan as I understand it, and there have been since the 70s.
Yup, that's why I mentioned they were disrespectful, but are often translated as curses for English understanding.
What about "baka" or "bakaro" whatever the difference is, which I've heard countless times translated as "idiot" in anime?
Baka and it's various forms are actually stupid, fool, idiot, and the like. Calling someone stupid is a pretty common way to insult them, so if you see that, it's probably pretty literal
Can be insulting or friendly banter depending on tone and context.
Sort of like "bitch" in english or "boludo" in Argentina I take. But does baka really mean "someone of inferior intelligence" as "idiot" would suggest?
Literally, yes.
Naruhito?
m*nko begs to differ.