A black joke..? huh? - Katakana English

Hey everyone, today while I was at work I heard my co-workers talking in Japanese and they used a Katakana English word in their conversation. I was kind of shocked because they said black joke.

Now, from they context I could see they meant a kind of dark joke about death or some other horrible event. BUT in English a black joke meands a racist joke about black people!

It is not politically correct and not funny. I told my coworkers they should have used a different expression because people may get offended if they hear you saying black joke... instead use one of the three following terms

black humor

Whenever something bad happens I also use black humor to lighten the mood.

dark humor

Tom has a really dark sense of humor, he's always joking about death and other tragedies.

gallows humor

This is when people make jokes about death before a coming battle, execution(gallows are the execution platform for hanging) or other terrible event happens.

So tomorrow we all lose our jobs when the factory closes, I guess it is time for some gallows humor...

Be careful guys! Sometimes katakana English can be misunderstood and get you in trouble~!

Phil

Katakana English...

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted more lessons this month but I've decided to take the JLPT(Japanese Language Proficiency Test) in December so alot of my free time is now being taken up with studying... wish me luck~! So this month I will post 6 lessons instead of my usual 8 and I think that will be about how many I will post in the next few months till my test.

Today's lesson is about some Katakana English words that have different meanings from the original English meaning.

リップスティック　= chapstick or lip balm

but

口紅（くちべに）= lipstick

We use chapstick often in Canada to protect our lips from the cold but lipstick(kuchibeni) is used as make up by women. So Japanese people SAY lipstick BUT they MEAN chapstick~ in English!

Next we also have this pair:

エアリング　= clip-on earrings

but

ピアス = normal earrings

So when Japanese people say earrings they mean clip-on earrings you can wear without pierced ears. But when they want to say normal earrings for someone with pierced ears they say pierce(ピアス )!

Ok that is it for this month, I will try and post something this weekend, enjoy this rainy Thursday,

Phil

Katakana English

Ok, I think you all know what Katakana English is. It's Japanese words that are written using katakana to show they were borrowed from another language, usually
English.

Be careful~! Not all words in katakana come from English so if you use them when speaking English people will NOT understand you!! Or words might have changed so much we don't know what you are talking about. For example:

ピエロ ---> from the French pierrot ----> in English we say clown



パン ---> from the Portuguese pao or Spanish pan ---->in English we say bread


コンセント ---> from concentric outlet ----> in English we say outlet or plug



Many times it is just the pronunciation which changes and so makes it hard for native speakers to understand or sounds a bit strange.



チョコレート---> chocoreto, the O at the end is odd ---> chocolate ----> pronounced choc-lit

サラダ ---> the extra A at the end is odd ---> salad ----> pronounced sa-lid

Sometimes, katakana words have different meanings from their English origins:

So you can see that the English and Japanese words have SWITCHED MEANINGS! If you go to Canada and want to buy Japanese リンス you have to ask for conditioner, if you want コンディショナー you have to ask for rinse! Conditioner you use almost everyday and rinse is maybe once a week. If you use rinse everyday your hair will become VERY oily!

Ok, that's all for now, if you have any questions or requests just ask.

Phil