| Have you ever thought about just how much our terms in the anime community suck? On one side we have terms like dojikko and pettanko that you will probably just hear once in your lifetime and on the other side we have terms like waifu and loli that can mean a hundred different things depending on who you ask. For some a waifu is "the one" female character that you'll absolutely worship forever and for others it's just some throwaway character that gets switched every week. Why don't we have two different words for that? Same thing with loli, "just a child in anime", "a young looking anime girl", "a sexualized young girl", "a girl that wears goth costumes", why do we use the same term for all of these things? Yes I know we already have words like lolicon, legal loli and goth loli but that's not really a good solution either because every time someone says loli it's still gonna start the same stupid war about the true meaning of it. Every fucking time. Are we just not creative enough to come up with new terms for stuff? Is it just too late for that because the culture developed too fast and now nobody will pick them up anymore? Do we just embrace the fighting over every term every single time? For example we could use girlu or girlfriendo instead of waifu, or we could use goli (goth loli) or kodomo (wow such creative) instead of loli. That's just some stupid examples of course but I think from time to time we should take more care of our terminology because we could all benefit from it. |
| "Our otaku terms suck" Yeah, but will OP be so kind to invent better terms? |
| Those terms are bad but nothing beats the utter uselessness of "new gen", literally "the stuff that came out around the time *I* became a fan". |
| MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST |
| The issue with the word waifu can't be fixed. It's unlike your other examples in that westerners made it up, and have prescribed whatever meaning to it. The issue with the word loli could be fixed, because there's only one definition in terms of how its used in anime and manga. People are just wrong. The arguments don't need to happen, but things are never that simple. Aside from the chosen few that have been allowed to stick around, people now generally have some aversion to adding more Japanese words to English speaking anime lexicon. Probably the most recent addition was tatakae, and even that makes me wince a little bit. |
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| I don't understand if you are complaining that the terms are outdated or that most people misuse them? |
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alshu said: Yeah, but will OP be so kind to invent better terms? I did, read the fucking text next time. _FRB_ said: The issue with the word waifu can't be fixed. It's unlike your other examples in that westerners made it up, and have prescribed whatever meaning to it. The issue with the word loli could be fixed, because there's only one definition in terms of how its used in anime and manga. People are just wrong. The arguments don't need to happen, but things are never that simple. Well they COULD be fixed if we just invented new terms to differentiate them better, but of course for that an entire community would need to agree on something, while we can't even agree on the same meaning for terms we already have. RobertBobert said: I don't understand if you are complaining that the terms are outdated or that most people misuse them? Not outdated and technically also not misused, the problem is that we don't have an "official dictionary" for otaku terms so everybody just uses a different definition leading to confusion and fights sometimes. |
ateks said: alshu said: Yeah, but will OP be so kind to invent better terms? I did, read the fucking text next time. _FRB_ said: The issue with the word waifu can't be fixed. It's unlike your other examples in that westerners made it up, and have prescribed whatever meaning to it. The issue with the word loli could be fixed, because there's only one definition in terms of how its used in anime and manga. People are just wrong. The arguments don't need to happen, but things are never that simple. Well they COULD be fixed if we just invented new terms to differentiate them better, but of course for that an entire community would need to agree on something, while we can't even agree on the same meaning for terms we already have. RobertBobert said: I don't understand if you are complaining that the terms are outdated or that most people misuse them? Not outdated and technically also not misused, the problem is that we don't have an "official dictionary" for otaku terms so everybody just uses a different definition leading to confusion and fights sometimes. Well, it's the constant crap you have with slang, but don't these terms have established variants? Using waifu as "cool female character" or loli as "sexy little girl" is clearly wrong. |
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Now where's the fun of that? Your terms suck too...possibly. |
ateks said: For some a waifu is "the one" female character that you'll absolutely worship forever and for others it's just some throwaway character that gets switched every week. Why don't we have two different words for that? How about using 'favourite character' and 'a mistake in the heat of the moment' instead? ateks said: For example we could use girlu or girlfriendo instead of waifu, or we could use goli (goth loli) or kodomo (wow such creative) instead of loli. 'girlfriendo' or 'waifu'? Already hear the ridiculous spelling of the first term. 'Waifu' sounds much comfortable, as expected, just like there at least one will wait for you at home, even when they are hung on the wall.  |
SgtBateManJul 16, 2022 10:46 AM
Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Helpppppp!  |
| When I read girlfriendo, I imagine dio brando with pigtails and two mammaries slapped to his chest. Rejected. Yeah, just dropped by to say that is rejected, if someone at all was entering the "zone" and entertaining the possibility. |
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| "girlu" "goli" lmao. anyways who cares though, why does it matter? |
 The end of an era. Thank you Wit, Mappa and Isayama. Feeling half happy, half sad. Kawaii waifus and precious best girls <3333 |
Guyovski said: Hope this reply doesn't get me on a watchlist, but from what I understand, the word "loli" is derived from "lolita", as in the girl character from the book named after her. In my opinion, most of its uses are correct, even if it's a vague term. I only read the book around halfway through (for me, it was an atrocious fucking read), but Lolita herself never wore any overly flashy and feminine clothes, contrary to the fashion trend that is named after her. In fact, I think the cunt protagonist constantly denied her such things (among other ridiculous shit, lol. She wasn't even allowed to have friends in high school). Well, this is just what I remember, it's been like two years since I tried reading it. I might be totally wrong, take this with a grain of salt. Not really sure what to say here. Most weeby terms are used ironically, after all. I don't know how anyone can have a serious discussion about lolis. I myself have used similar words in the past to joke around. As OP said, there's also some pretty specific words too, There's even a term that describes a certain group of people that are into yaoi or yuri (fujoshi/fudanshi). I dunno, maybe I'm wrong about all this, feel free to correct me. I doubt that coming up with more accurate terms is worth it, though. What next, are we gonna start describing canonically accurate lolis?? Like, biblically accurate lolis? Sounds freaky, man. The term derives from the book but the meaning in Japan is very different from the meaning in the western world (which is probably why people argue so much about it). "The term's meaning and use in Japanese differs substantially from the English, and has developed instead into a positive synonym for the "sweet and adorable" adolescent girl." is what Wikipedia says for example. SgtBateMan said: How about using 'favourite character' and 'a mistake in the heat of the moment' instead? Best suggestion here so far. ChouunShiryuu said: When I read girlfriendo, I imagine dio brando with pigtails and two mammaries slapped to his chest. Rejected. Yeah, just dropped by to say that is rejected, if someone at all was entering the "zone" and entertaining the possibility. Well it was just some examples what I had in mind when I talked about coming up with new words. I'm aware nobody will ever use them. |
Judging from your signature you are exactly the kind of illiterate people I'm talking about. "waifus" |
ateks said: Well it was just some examples what I had in mind when I talked about coming up with new words. I'm aware nobody will ever use them. aye lol I read that part, thought I'd crack a joke there since I didn't really have much of a perspective to share on the topic aside from that I agree "waifu" sucks. |
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| You know what we need? A word for "needs to touch grass". |
| okay forward your proposal to the otaku round table— wherever that is. based from your examples, that's pretty much just neologism and it doesn't exactly differ from slangs. as the person has mentioned, they do come with variants and such, make them flexible enough. in any case, I see your point and you could be the catalyst, but people will always argue over semantics. |
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| I agree but I think it is easier to base them upon the context they would be used in rather than make entirely different words for them since it'll be hard to remember so many. For example, there are so many types of -dere. I only know three, namely, Tsundere, Yandere, and the one I recently learned, Kuudere |
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| I think because of simply the way language evolves, it's kinda bound to happen that words have different connotations or meanings, maybe even multiple meanings, as time goes on. I think the internet just made this 'evolution' a lot quicker, and easier to spread around incorrect definitions of words. I wouldn't necessarily say I think about it often though. For loli as one commenter pointed out, it's just often used incorrectly, so I think it's a matter of doing your best to use it correctly. As for waifus and husbandos, I think it's always been a tad confusing, but I also know 'best girl/boy' were terms to describe only a singular character, so maybe waifu is just in a transition state? I always figured that since there were plural versions of the term, it often allowed for multiple characters. I guess the loli vs goth loli came from lolita fashion maybe? who knows! Making new terms is hard because a lot of times it's only chance that it catches on with other people, so that might also explain as to why there's rarely new terminology. |
0:00 〇────── 6:56
| Then it's the people that need to change that mindset. Someone has kindly pointed out to me the origin of the word "loli" and I'm still going to use the word for anime children. |
"Nobody could laugh at someone who's trying their hardest" -Machio- |
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