How obvious are the characters name to Jpn speaking people?

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:23 am

As I'm sitting at home, my television is on Boomerang after recording Batman episodes. The Flintstones are on and I'm looking at my closed captions and the names Dino, Rubble, Flintstone, Slate and the like seem to stick out a little more. Then, I glanced over at my playstation and see my Super Dragonball Z game and it finally clicked in my head exactly what's meant by the Dragonball characters having pun names.

But much do the Japanese names stick out to Japanese speaking people?

Otaku1990 · Post by **Otaku1990** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:54 pm

Yeah, that bugged me too. How can something like "Chi Chi" not sound weird to japanese ears?

Post by **desirecampbell** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:17 pm

Otaku1990 wrote:Yeah, that bugged me too. How can something like "Chi Chi" not sound weird to japanese ears?

Well, it's a word with more than one meaning. We use words like that all the time. Actually, here's a good one, "pop". You could be refering to a sound, a drink, your father, simply an older person.

Some puns might only become apparent when looking at how they're spelled. Like "Dino". For years I thought it was "Deeno", I'd completely missed the "Dino[saur]" pun.

BrollysKin · Post by **BrollysKin** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 6:39 pm

Yeah, but Gohan? That literally means rice.

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:19 pm

Gohan can also mean meal.

BrollysKin · Post by **BrollysKin** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:20 pm

Still!

_Jrinu_ · Post by **_Jrinu_** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:31 pm

Well, what if you think about it on the opposite side.

What about when we hear names like Drum? Or Blue Berry?

They sound obvious to us don't they?

Panda · Post by **Panda** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:05 pm

Well... the names themselves (in Japanese) aren't quite that obvious. Most of them have letters taken off or reveresed spelling or something. It really is the same as the Flintstones and I could safely bet that the Japanese catch on as quickly as we do. They aren't to obvious but if you look you'll see.

Mr. Announcer · Post by **Mr. Announcer** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:17 pm

Well actually, I'm guessing that a lot of the time the puns do go over their heads considering they sometimes end up with spellings like Begeta and whatever the hell is up with the Ginyu force spellings. However, things like the Red Ribbon color names are probably just as obvious to them as they are to us.

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:34 pm

I consider myself to be somewhat bright but, I don't know, if someone hadn't pointed it out to me long ago about Trunks, Bulma, Bra, and Dr. Briefs refering to clothing (maybe not Bra, my mind would have imediately moved to think of breasts) I may not have realized that reference. Nor might I have gotten the Red Ribbon army color reference. Exspecially since they aren't always in the same room.

Bardock the Mexican · Post by **Bardock the Mexican** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:18 pm

They arn't stupid and mostly get what's being said. I'm surprised that they didn't censor the whole "Chichi" bit. Even in Japanese that means tits same as in Mexican Spanish. They must have even more lax standards even by our standards. That also goes to say that they get a lot of the jokes and name puns. Let's not forget that in the beginning that DB was GAG manga and only became serious towards the end and in DBZ.

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:35 pm

Bardock the Mexican wrote:They arn't stupid and mostly get what's being said. I'm surprised that they didn't censor the whole "Chichi" bit. Even in Japanese that means tits same as in Mexican Spanish. They must have even more lax standards even by our standards. That also goes to say that they get a lot of the jokes and name puns. Let's not forget that in the beginning that DB was GAG manga and only became serious towards the end and in DBZ.

Japanese standards are much more lax than that of American broadcast entertainment. 'Twas a big subject in the paper I just wrote. Which reminds me, I promised I'd post it...

Plus, most Japanese kids nowadays learn some basic english in middle school, I believe It's equivalent to taking Spanish or something over here in the States. So a lot of people probably get the reference.

Mr. Announcer · Post by **Mr. Announcer** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:26 pm

Yeah, in Japan everyone is pretty much required to learn english throughout school and a lot of english words have been incorporated into the language, usually in abbreviated forms though.

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 7:42 pm

SSj Kaboom wrote:most Japanese kids nowadays learn some basic english in middle school, I believe It's equivalent to taking Spanish or something over here in the States.

I hope it's not, for the sake of American kids.

Presc503 · Post by **Presc503** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 9:33 pm

Chi Chi could refer to breasts. but it could also be the play on the formal name for father. Even though Gohan uses odoosan and okaasan for dad and mom, the more formal uses are chi chi for father and ha ha for mother.

Even through that explanation, I'm still going to go with breasts though.

Bardock the Mexican · Post by **Bardock the Mexican** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:11 pm

Presc503 wrote:Chi Chi could refer to breasts. but it could also be the play on the formal name for father. Even though Gohan uses odoosan and okaasan for dad and mom, the more formal uses are chi chi for father and ha ha for mother.

Even through that explanation, I'm still going to go with breasts though.

It means tits as in the English slang term. You wouldn't want to have your precious children hearing it in English would you? There are some words that cannot be said on Mexican TV. Chichis is one of them. The whole Japanese similarity is moot because it's not a naughty word in Japanese. It's a kid's term for God's sake.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 12:45 am

Mr. Announcer wrote:Yeah, in Japan everyone is pretty much required to learn english throughout school and a lot of english words have been incorporated into the language, usually in abbreviated forms though.

Kind of reminds of another pun of how a lot of Pokemon are named after simple English words in Japan. Their names were obviously changed for North American release to not sound too corny. Still reminded me of it.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 6:59 am

Presc503 wrote:Even though Gohan uses odoosan and okaasan for dad and mom,

It's "otousan", not "odoosan".

The Tori-bot · Post by **The Tori-bot** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:08 am

Jerseymilk wrote:
Presc503 wrote:Even though Gohan uses odoosan and okaasan for dad and mom,
It's "otoosan", not "odoosan".

If you want to get overly-accurate, it's "otousan".

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 4:35 pm

The Tori-bot wrote:
Jerseymilk wrote:
Presc503 wrote:Even though Gohan uses odoosan and okaasan for dad and mom,
It's "otoosan", not "odoosan".
If you want to get overly-accurate, it's "otousan".

Gah! I forgot to change that to a "u". Why do I bother posting in the early morning right after work? >_<