Dame Oyaji (oyaji means father), and the protagonist (if we can call him that) was a helpless, hapless father. Perhaps because of this connection, it's more fashionable and sophisticated to say dame oyaji than the conventional and grammatical dame-na oyaji. The same can be said for dame otoko (man) or dame onna (woman).
Dame has its origins in the Japanese board game of go, in which players compete to secure spaces which then count as their territory. In most cases, useless spaces (muda-na me) will remain in the border areas when the game is over. These spaces are called dame. Aside from this rather specialized use of the word, dame nowadays is applied to anything that is useless, no good, or impossible. Dame-na musuko is an oft-heard lament when parents describe a no-good (or perceived as no-good) son. Deki ga warui ko is similar, meaning an unaccomplished child, while deki sokonai is even worse, literally a failure.
Kono tokei (this watch) wa dame desu means this watch doesn't run or, depending on the context, this watch won't do. Naitemo (even if you cry) dame da means it's useless to cry. When a Japanese mother says simply dame to her child, it means don't do that or, more emphatically, stop it. If you reply dame (desu) when you're asked to do something, it means that you are unable to help out, or simply, no. This can sound a bit abrupt in Japanese, however. A more common and more polite response would be muzukashii (desu), muzukashii being an ordinary word for difficult.
Gūtara is similar to dame in meaning good-for-nothing. Gūtara oyaji can be used almost interchangeably with dame oyaji, and conjures up the image of Dagwood from the comic strip Blondie, relentlessly sleeping on the sofa while the lawnmower languishes in the garage.
Ikare ponchi, now archaic, 13 similar to dame otoko/ onna. The verb ikareru means to become useless or touched in the head. It can be used similarly to dame as in kono tokei wa ikarete iru (this watch doesn't work). Ponchi comes from bonchi (a young boy in Kansai dialect), and ikare is a shortened form of ikareta, the past tense of ikareru. The word became popular after World War II, when traditional Japanese ways of thinking were changing drastically, and many young people became ikare ponchi in their confusion as to how to adjust to the new (dis)order.
Ikareta is still used and by itself means dame in the sense of someone having a hole in his head or being really off his rocker. It can also be used to mean enchanted with as in kare wa kanojo ni ikareteru (he's crazy about her), acting like a hoodlum as in aitsu wa ikareteru (he's acting like a thug), and to be an idiot as in kare wa ikareteru (he's a moron).
Now, we'd like to introduce some terms that sound like the male names Yotarō, Santarō, Fūtarō, and Tōshirō, but actually connote further meanings. The use of names to imply something else is common in many languages. A John, in English, for example, is used to mean the toilet as well as a prostitute's customer. A cuppa joe is a cup of coffee. And a lulu is an astounding person or thing.
One term derived from a name comes from Japan's sports world. Dozaemon is a synonym for the victim of a drowning. It seems that in the Edo era there was an enormously fat sumo wrestler by the name of Dozaemon Naruse, whose swollen body and vast white expanse of stomach reminded people of a drowned person. Although most Japanese today don't know the origin of this term, they use it more frequently than the legal term dekishisha (deki is drowned, shi is death, and sha is person). There are, incidentally, four ways of talking about drowning in Japanese: dozaemon ni naru, oboreru, dekishi suru, and suishi suru.
Yotarō sounds like an ordinary man's name, but it has taken on another meaning over time. Yotarō is a favorite character in rakugo, traditional comic storytelling. In classic rakugo, Yotarō always appears as an innocently simple fool, his sole purpose being to cause great amusement among the audience. Thus the word yotarō has come to be a near synonym for a young baka manuke (blockhead or dunce). The shortened form yota is used to mean stupidity, or a useless person or thing.
Yota banashi (hanashi is story, changed euphonically to banashi) and yota-mono are derivatives of yotarō. The former can be translated as nonsense or unreliable talk, and the latter as hoodlum or gangster. Thus yota banashi shinai de means don't talk nonsense, yota o tobasu (tobasu means let fly) means to talk nonsense, and kare wa yotamon(o) da means he's a hoodlum. Yotamon and yotako are variations of yota-mono, the latter being a derogatory word for yakuza and other rough characters.
Yotaru and yotatte iru are derivative verbs meaning to act like a hoodlum. Yakuza and gurentai, however, are more up-to-date words for gangsters than yotamono. This will be discussed in more detail later.
Santarō also sounds like an ordinary name. San is three, and, literally translated, santarō means third son. But it's understood in a broader sense as a half-wit. This is because it's said in Japan that the first and third sons tend to be rather foolish, while the second son, more often than not, is the clever one. Thus o-baka santarō means a dunderhead or a real horse's ass.
Fūtarō (fu being an alternative pronunciation of the character for kaze, or wind) means an insignificant person, someone who just blows in the wind and disappears as effortlessly as a spring breeze. Contemporary variations of this word, such as pūtarō, will be explained in the chapter on young people's language.
Tōshirō used to be a very common man's name in Japan. It is used now, however, with the sense of amateur or non-professional. Tōshirō derives from the word shirōto (amateur), which is used particularly in connection with the arts and professions. The two kanji with which shirōto is written are those for simple and person. When written with a different character, shiro means white and carries implications of pure and innocent. Shiro's opposite kuro, on the other hand, also can be written with several different kanji. These bear connotations of black, accomplishment, or mystery, depending on the character used.
Several word plays take advantage of these homonyms. Diametrically opposite to shirōto is kurōto (kuro is black), which means a person who is accomplished, particularly in the arts and crafts, a professional, prostitute, or bar hostess. When a defendant is found not guilty, for example, he or she is called shiro, while kuro is used for someone found guilty. Aitsu wa shiro da to omou, then, means I think that guy is innocent.
The reason that shirōto became tōshirō is really quite simple. The Japanese, particularly gangsters and entertainers, have a habit of inverting words to create a secret language. Gangsters, for example, refer to women (onna) as naon. And hiikō is often used instead of kōhii (coffee). You can use tōshirō or tōshirō as in aitsu wa honto ni tōshirō da (he really doesn't know what he's doing). And when you add the emphatic prefix do-, it becomes the even more contemptuous doshirōto, ne (you're a real amateur).
Yoppara-Related
Nonbei is another word that sounds like a name, but it means a habitual drinker or drunkard. It comes from the verb nomu (to drink) and the suffix-bei, which in the past was commonly attached to men's names. Nonbei can be used when speaking of either men or women, however. Nomisuke is a synonym (-suke is also a suffix sometimes attached to Japanese men's names). Ō-zakenomi (sake is Japanese rice wine and o-means big) is a boozer, and uwabami (python) is a heavy drinker. Nondakure is a constant drunk, sometimes a bum, while sakebitari is to indulge in drinking. The bitari here comes from the verb hitaru with a euphonic change, meaning to be soaked or immersed in.
In the fall of 1993, some shocking news (shocking for Japan, that is) was reported by Kurihama National Hospital. Japanese under 20 are legally prohibited from drinking; nevertheless, it was found that 14% of high school students (age 15 to 18) consume alcohol one or more times a week.
There are various reasons for this. Unlike in Europe and North America, there are vending machines nationwide in Japan where alcohol can be easily purchased by those underage without any ID check, though the machines are expected to be closed down at 11 P.M.
As of 1990, the number of alcohol vending machines reached 200,000 (one per 600 persons), 70% of them selling beer. The Ministry of Health
