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Could someone explain why 猥シャツ is defined as "obscene shirt (pun)"? I don't understand how this is a pun.

猥シャツ 【わいシャツ】 (n) (See Ｙシャツ) obscene shirt (pun)

Source: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MUEワイシャツ

Shog9
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Pacerier
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2 Answers2

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The pun is that the kanji 「猥」, read 「わい」, means "obscene", whereas 「ワイシャツ」 means "dress shirt". The portmanteau 「猥シャツ」 therefore means "obscene shirt".

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
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  • Is `ワイ` -> `Y` referring to the V formed by the neck and the | where the buttons are (you can tell I'm not in the shirt business)? – Karl Knechtel Aug 21 '11 at 08:47
  • @Karl: I'm pretty sure it's just because of the English pronunciation of the letter "Y". – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Aug 21 '11 at 09:16
  • I've never heard a dress shirt called a "Y shirt" in English. Is that a UK thing? – Karl Knechtel Aug 21 '11 at 18:29
  • @Karl: It's never, ever called a "Y shirt" in English. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Aug 21 '11 at 18:44
  • So what I was asking is, why do they call it that in Japanese? – Karl Knechtel Aug 21 '11 at 18:45
  • Probably because 「わい」 sounds like "Y". – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Aug 21 '11 at 18:53
  • ... I don't think you understand. Why is 「ワイシャツ」 used to mean "dress shirt" (it would appear to be some kind of wasei-eigo), and not, say, 「エクスシャツ」? – Karl Knechtel Aug 21 '11 at 19:15
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    If 大辞林　is to be trusted, it actually comes from "white shirt", not "Y shirt". How it got from ホワイト　to ワイ　is not explained. Maybe by analogy with "T shirt"? – rdb Aug 21 '11 at 19:22
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    @rdb If you are following that, then it should be clear that in English, the counterpart to `ホワイト` is rather pronounced like `ワイ`; `ホ` is aspiration, and `ト` is often not pronounced in English prnounciation. –  Aug 21 '11 at 23:55
  • rdb's claim about the origin may (or may not) be correct, but in present usage, it is not necessarily white. Karl's speculation is right in mentioning the shape, but I think the general understanding of Japanese people is that it is referring to the shape when the sleeves are held upward. –  Aug 21 '11 at 23:59
  • As I said, it's 大辞林's claim, not mine. If it is true, though, the "Y shirt" theory becomes a false folk etymology. The puzzle is explaining why ホワイトシャツ　changed to ワイシャツ　while things like ホワイトハウス didn't become ワイハウス. I'm not an etymologist, though; I just play one on this board.　(笑) – rdb Aug 22 '11 at 03:32
  • @sawa The usage is said to be as ancient as Meiji period, and it becomes what it is today due to 訛り(namari). By the way, another interesting/funny false folk etymology would be ワイシャツ＝ワイ(俺)のシャツ "my shirt". It could be fun to tell them as jokes to nieces and nephews! DISCLAIMER: I don't condone telling lies as a joke! It is against my belief to joke using a lie! – syockit Aug 25 '11 at 08:09
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Look up the word 猥褻. It will all become clear.

猥褻 = わいせつ = obscenity

Nicolas Raoul
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rdb
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  • I couldn't find 褻 in my usual reference, and trying it with Google gives primarily Chinese rather than Japanese results. – Karl Knechtel Aug 21 '11 at 08:45
  • I think the word is normally written in hiragana. You can limit Google searches by language. If you limit your search to Japanese, this page should be among the first hits: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/わいせつ Alternatively: http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/je2/81626/m0u/猥褻/ – rdb Aug 21 '11 at 19:11