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How often does gairaigo get bikago?

おトイレ is mentioned by Wiktionary, and Wikipedia mentions it being used ironically in o-kokakōra, but I haven't come across any others.

One case where its absence is noticeable is referring to someone else's partner as a パートナー without an お before it (or a さん afterwards, for that matter)

Are there any words other than トイレ that often get お (apart from in the speech of teenage girls)?

Andrew Grimm
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3 Answers3

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おタバコ is heard all the time when restaurant staff asks you if you need a seat where you can smoke.

おタバコはお吸いになりますか Do you smoke?

おビール, おソース, おタオル I've heard as well, but less often.

I would say that 美化語 on 外来語 is not a phenomenon correlated with teenage girls, on the contrary. It strikes me as something that mainly elder women say when trying to sound elegant, although that is an obvious generalization.

dainichi
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Some people use おコーヒー. Both おトイレ and おコーヒー sound like words used in a certain idiolect to me, and their use is not limited to teenage girls, but I do not know exactly what kind of people use these words.

Tsuyoshi Ito
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    I feel that socially high-class madams use them, and these words are also 役割語 for such people. For example, it's likely to be used by スネ夫's mother. –  Feb 02 '12 at 16:01
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    @sawa: Is "high-class madams" a euphemism? – Andrew Grimm Feb 04 '12 at 10:17
  • @AndrewGrimm For what? –  Feb 04 '12 at 10:37
  • @sawa: Either an up-market prostitute, or a woman who runs a brothel. – Andrew Grimm Feb 04 '12 at 10:52
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    @AndrewGrimm No. Far from that. I don't understand why take it like that. Judging from your other questions, I think you are thinking that kind of things too much in the context of Japanese. In several of your questions, you mention sexual things, genital, or prostitution. –  Feb 04 '12 at 10:53
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Bikago does not seem to have much relation with gairaigo. I think what you really meant is "how often are gairaigo used as euphemism?" From your examples, I feel that. And if that is your question, I think the answer is, quite often.

  • What do you mean by euphemism? I thought euphemism means using a vague word or phrase rather than a more specific one. – Andrew Grimm Feb 04 '12 at 10:14
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    A gairaigo is not as familiar as native Japanese words to the Japanese speaking people, so it does not carry negative connotations as much. –  Feb 04 '12 at 10:36