"Shudanteki jieiken" (the right to collective self-defense) and "Dameyo, Dame Dame" (You must not do that) were among the top buzzwords and phrases voted the most popular or influential in 2014 on Monday by a publishing company.
Usually, one word or phrase is voted most popular but U-Can said this year it was awarding the title to two winners.
The 10 winning expressions were picked from a list of 50 words and phrases submitted last month, Sports Nippon reported.
"Shudanteki jieiken" has been talked about a lot in the media since July when the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe adopted a resolution dropping the ban on Japan's right to exercise collective self-defense. "Dameyo, Dame Dame" was popularized by the female comic duo Nippon Erekiteru Rengo.
Other expressions in the top 10 were "Yokai Watch" (ghost watch), which is a popular animation among children, "Arinomamade," the Japanese title of the song "Let It Go," from Disney's monster hit film "Frozen," as well as "matahara" (maternity harassment, referring to pregnant women who are discriminated against at the workplace).
The rest of the top 10 are "kiken doragu" (dangerous drugs which replaced the term loophole drugs), "kabe-don" (which refers to usually a guy leaning over a woman, pressing her against a wall, his hand slammed up on it), "Carp-joshi" (female fans of the Hiroshima Carp baseball team), "Gokigenyo" (a popular expression in NHK's morning drama series) and "Legend" (referring to veteran ski jumper Noriaki Kasai).
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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toshiko
@Fadamor: men say Dameda.
Fadamor
Really? We were taught that dame was gender-neutral for "(it) must not be done" and that the yo was just the particle tacked onto the end to indicate new information for the intended recipient. A rough translation would be, "(You) can't do that! (You) can't! (You) can't!"
Of course, I'm not familiar with how that female comedy duo uses it, so there may be a context situation where it becomes gender-specific.
toshiko
Don't you see ? The two top phrases go hand in hand.
Collective self defence? Dameyo, dame dame.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
I agree with you. Dameyo is female talks. I think majority of female do not like militarization
Serrano
I still hear "Maji!" a lot.
SwissToni
Don't know why " Dameyo, Dame, Dame" is suddenly influential. People have been saying this to me for many years to little effect.
dcog9065
I must have been pretty out of it this year, virtually none of those words sound familiar
Alistair Carnell
@lucabrasi
Where are all the Ian Hislops, Frankie Boyles, David Mitchells, and the Charlie Brookers of Japan?
zabutonsenbei
I believe Alistair has hit it on the head! (-_^)
lucabrasi
@Alistair
Don't you see ? The two top phrases go hand in hand. Collective self defence? Dameyo, dame dame.
They actually made the same joke on NHK yesterday.
Shocking anti-establishment satire....
A.N. Other
Really? I thought this was a fairly common utterance when doing it right.
Cricky
I am so relieved to know what the buzz words for the last year were? I was waiting for the unveiling with clenched bladder.
smithinjapan
Is it just me that finds it a little scary that a word like "kabe-don" would be voted amongst the most popular, and that it's use is so prevalent? As for "Dameyo, dame dame!" I see the degradation of the language is not only because of overuse of loan words but also just poor use of Japanese becoming popular. Ask a person what "matahara" means -- I mean ask them to break it down and explain each part. They can't.
papigiulio
iijyanaino?
Of course this was copied and overused on many varietyshows. They are lucky though, if they werent introduced by Kyaripamyupamyu, I wonder if they would ever had this success.
Alistair Carnell
Don't you see ? The two top phrases go hand in hand.
Collective self defence? Dameyo, dame dame.
tamanegi
I think it should have been "usotsuki" (liar) due to the continuous role call of liars in the Japanese news. Eg: Obokata, Tomita, Nonomura, Beethoven of Japan, etc.
Japan Yesterday
I agree with "Dameyo, dame dame." As for the other one, I call shenanigans.