"Majin" = "Demon God"?

Post by **desirecampbell** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:32 pm

Olivier Hague wrote:
Suupaa Gohan 2 wrote:'Majin' could mean a lot of things but the way it's spelled in the Dragonball world it means 'Demon Person'.
Simple as that.
Though I have noticed Viz apparently tried to get away with using the word 'Djinn' in the English Manga...>.>
Again, that "majin" word is often used in the "genie" / "djinn" sense, in Japanese. See above.

Eh, well while a Google search showing so many hits is nice, it really doesn't prove anything. I mean, "robot" "magic lamp" gets six times as many hits as "majin" "mahô no lamp". And anyone would be baffled as to the relationship between robots and magic lamps (though, that does sound pretty awesome).

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:43 pm

desirecampbell wrote:Eh, well while a Google search showing so many hits is nice, it really doesn't prove anything.

If you can't read Japanese (and thus can't check the relevance of the results), I guess that Google search doesn't really prove anything, indeed. But then again, if you can't read Japanese, you'll just have to trust somebody who does, in the end, right?

I mean, "robot" "magic lamp" gets six times as many hits as "majin" "mahô no lamp".

Well, I guess you couldn't see my point even if you could read Japanese, after all. If you can't understand why I chose these precise words, nor bother to check the actual relevance of the results...
An obvious way to show the absurdity of your counter-argument would be to try the phrases "genie of the lamp" (142,000 hits), "djinn of the lamp" (4,690 hits) and "robot of the lamp" (0 hit? you don't say!). And if you try "lamp no majin" in Japanese... 9,180 hits. That's certainly a lot more than zero. Why do you think?

Here's more stuff for you to ignore: the Japanese Wikipedia entry for "majin" (as it's spelled in "Dragon Ball"). Funny how they mention a certain magic lamp.
Let me come up with your next counter-argument: the English Wikipedia entry for "robot" contains the totally-unrelated word "spider"! Obviously, that nullifies my argument. If you don't bother to read and think, that is.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:43 pm

Oliver Hague wrote:Here's more stuff for you to ignore: the Japanese Wikipedia entry for "majin" (as it's spelled in "Dragon Ball"). Funny how they mention a certain magic lamp.
Let me come up with your next counter-argument: the English Wikipedia entry for "robot" contains the totally-unrelated word "spider"! Obviously, that nullifies my argument. If you don't bother to read and think, that is.

Dude, would you relax? Show Des a little respect, would'ja?

Just because he's not agreeing with you doesn't mean you need to become an insane jerk about it. Not to play moderator, but just because you think you're right-- regardless of whether you actually are or not-- doesn't give you license to lord it over anyone.

I don't see him going out of his way to make you look stupid, so WTF?

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:51 pm

Li'l Lemmy wrote:Dude, would you relax? Show Des a little respect, would'ja?

Well, he didn't exactly show any respect to my arguments. In fact, one could say he pretty much pissed on them.

just because you think you're right-- regardless of whether you actually are or not-- doesn't give you license to lord it over anyone.

I didn't reply like I did simply because I think I'm right. I did because of his attitude ("eh, that's nice, but that really doesn't prove anything") and the insultingly ludicrous counter-example he came up with.

Post by **TripleRach** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:50 pm

Suupaa Gohan 2 wrote:'Majin' could mean a lot of things but the way it's spelled in the Dragonball world it means 'Demon Person'.

Simple as that.

No, it's really not that simple. The way it's "spelled" is 魔人, and the 魔 ma character has a much broader meaning than "demon". It also refers to magic and sorcery and the like.