Honorifics..? Suffixes?

[thistlechaser]

There has to be a name for these, but I'm not sure what it is. In Japanese: -san, -chan, -sama, all those -things you can stick after a name. Whatever they are, I wish we used them here, too. No, no, it's not because I'm some freaky anime-fan who runs around going 'Kekekekeke!' and making the V sign with two fingers all the live-long day, it's just that it'd make things both easier and richer:

As I've been babbling about for a number of days now, I've been watching this anime series. The Get Backers. In it one of the characters has been adding -kun to everyone's name. I asked what that meant, and was told it could be tacked on to a name to imply a male friend. In one of the eps I watched last night, someone used -han, and since no one was around to ask, I looked it up.

Turns out that -kun isn't just for a male friend, it's for a friendly person *below* you in status. With that knowledge, a whole undertone in the series opened up: While this character had been -kun'ing everyone all along, it took time for the others to start -san'ing him. (-san saying that that person is above you in status.) I missed all that by not being aware of what -kun really meant! This character was saying all along 'I'm better than you', and over the course of the first season, the others came around and agreed 'yes, you're above me'.

How cool would that be to have something like that here? It would make things so much clearer and easier, everyone would know where everyone else stood.

Comments

[tersa.livejournal.com]

I've always considered them to be honorifics, but that's my GarouMUSH upbringing showing through.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I think that's where I picked it up, too. I know there are a couple of big anime fans and/or Japanese students on my flist, so hopefully they'll speak up and leave a comment as to what they're called.

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

They are honorifics, yes. Technically, -kun is used by a higher-ranking male to a lower-ranking male. However, it is most commonly used to refer to friends and family of roughly equal station, and is often used by females.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh, okay. Interesting. Thanks!

[aretina.livejournal.com]

I don't know about honorifics, but I often thought it would be easier if people in America would use academic robes in the university setting. The informality of it all does take something away-- from a purely economic standpoint if you have to feel, based on dress and manners, that your professor is your buddy, class time is wasted as it were on pleasantries and personal stuff that I could really give a toss about. And you could tell the PhDs from the janitors, though from a point of pride it's a kind of status to "not care," or appear not to care.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'd like to see that, too. When I was in college, I didn't want the professor to be a friend, I wanted a teacher, a professional.

Everything here has got to be so causal and (on the surface at least) classless/statusless.

[aretina.livejournal.com]

One of the things I do truly dislike about American culture is the idea that we don't have class when we really do, and it's hurtful instead of helpful in a lot of ways. If you don't admit it's there, how are you supposed to change anything? Of course, being someone willing to voice this, I find myself in the minority.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Totally agreed.

[metron-ariston.livejournal.com]

Hm. I never learned that -san was supposed to imply that you were socially inferior, but I guess it could in that it's usually used with people you just don't know very well who are outside of your social circle... and you're supposed to treat people you don't know extremely politely, so it might have a connotation that you are making yourself lower and raising them higher by using -san. @_@;

Then again, I keep reading that guys refer to each other with -chan in GetBackers, which makes me go "Wha?" and reminds me that 1) Three semesters of Japanese does not give me real knowledge and 2) Anime Japanese logic is not like our Earth logic.

I'll try to find someone who knows more about Japanese to help me figure it out if I remember.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Well, from what I've read, you -san (or -sensi -- did I spell that right? It's too early) a teacher. That teacher can -kun you.

I keep reading that guys refer to each other with -chan in GetBackers, which makes me go "Wha?"

-chan is used *very* oddly in GetBackers. One of the characters uses it for nearly everyone (unless he -san's them), but that character (male) is supposed to be seriously cute, so I suspect it's part of making him look less manly. The other example is that nearly everyone calls Ban 'Ban-chan'. I thought it was because it rhymed, but I'm not sure. It's very odd though.

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

I also think that age figures into it, which doesn't necessarily mean higher status, but more like "respect your elders". e.g. Kuno is always harping on people to call him Kuno-senpai (something like "upperclassman") but nobody ever does.

I have also noticed that there are like 10 words for "you" and you can either honor or insult someone with them (like omae is bad, kimi is more neutral, and anata is more respectful) and similar for "I" (such as "watakushi" which is super-formal and probably only used by women and hyper-formal situations)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I have also noticed that there are like 10 words for "you"...

Wow, how complex and interesting that would be!