Little bit of slang perhaps?

[Kisshu]

Ok.. I have a question... in one of the animes I was watching... someone came up yelling です to someone else and it was translated "whatsup." Is this a common use of です? And is there any other cool slangish stuff that you know? My friend and I luv talking Japanese slang and junk with my friends (not swearing) and we do it all the time in French class (isn't that ironic?)

I know

すごい！: Cool
わああ：Woow!
かわいい： Cute
もえ： Wow
ああああ： A type of sighing

I think I know a few more, but I can't remember them right now.. -___-

[mandolin]

I don't think 「もえ」 means wow. It has something to do with... attractiveness in a fetishist sort of way.

At least.. that's what wikipedia reports. (link)

すごい can also mean wow, amazing, incredible, neat!
かっこういい　is closer to "cool!", though sugoi isn't necessarily wrong.

um...

やれやれ: "man oh man.." "oh geez..." or some other phrase of exasperation. Maybe say it while rolling your eyes, or looking bored or annoyed.

ふふふふ: <--- chuckling, as written in a manga.

よし！ : I'll do it! Alright, let's do it! expression of excited determination. Remember japanese like to drop vowels, so it almost always sounds like "Yosh!"


None of this is really slang.... just popular words I hear in Anime a lot.

Can't help you with the desu bit. I've never heard it as a greeting, but that doesn't mean much.

[Kisshu]

Hmm.. yeah... Weird with the もえ bit lol And I usually use すごい for kewl cuz I heard somewhere the かっこいい means kewl as in appearance... like you would call someone かっこい.. but heck.. what do I know? lol Thanks a bunch!

Oh.. I also know

よし (sp?)
やった

[Justin]

Here's a quick rundown on 萌え for ya...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo%C3%A9

I would recommend not using it though unless you want to sound like a complete dork.

As for the first one there that you said sounds like です, I'm guessing they're actually saying おっす, which is short for おはよございます.

[AJBryant]

やれやれ: "man oh man.." "oh geez..." or some other phrase of exasperation. Maybe say it while rolling your eyes, or looking bored or annoyed.

I usually think of it as "oof" or "oy."

Tony

[Kisshu]

Wow.. thanks.... uh.. i won't be using もえ anymore uhehe.. erm... yeah... stupid text book i got uses it and defines it as wow... urgggg

I like やれやれ tho....thats a pretty kewl one.. anyone know of a website where I can get a buncah Japanese slang?:)

[lin_chan]

A note on "sugoi". In my experience, the Japanese use it to mean something extreme: i.e., terrific or terrible. Plus "kakkoii" = "boy cool" or sometimes "handsome", and "kawaii" is of course cute for girls. Another one they use all the time (especially girls) is "Uso!" which literally means "lie!" but is used more like 'no way!' or "Oh, my God!". As for the anime in which "desu!" is used as a greeting- sometimes it's used like this: "It's you!", since that's what it literally means... not too common here in Osaka-ben though

[Kisshu]

Ahhh IC.. I kinda figured kakkoi means boy-cool.. but I saw it once when a guy thought a girl was kewl; it was kinda weird lol...I should use Uso too.. that s pretty cool one... so desu is used like that? Do you have any idea if it is used commonly in places in Japan aside from Osaka? (Ps- You are so lucky to live in Osaka... are you Japanese? Or just living there?)

[n8starr]

Yes i too would really love to know of a website all about slang...nothing dirty of course just contractions/expressions/other words for things...

[Justin]

Kisshu wrote:
so desu is used like that?

Maybe it's just me, but I've never really heard of people just running around saying "desu" as a kind of greeting. Are you sure it's not someone saying おっす instead?

[Kisshu]

Positive.. I've listened to it like.... a buncha times and it is definately desu.

[AJBryant]

Then either you're hearing it wrong, the thing was written by non-Japanese speakers, or there's some new slang thing that has appeared suddenly that I've never heard of but which has mysteriously made it into the popular media.

Perhaps you could actually start by telling us *where* you're hearing it. What's the show?

Tony

[Kisshu]

I am hearing it in the show "Aishiteruze Baby" and its only available in Japanese.. lol... hey.. i've got an idea.. I think I can upload that one little part onto some video website.. if I can figure it out..Ill try to have it done by this evening! -goes back to trying to understand homework-

[Justin]

Kisshu wrote:
I am hearing it in the show "Aishiteruze Baby" and its only available in Japanese.. lol... hey.. i've got an idea.. I think I can upload that one little part onto some video website.. if I can figure it out..Ill try to have it done by this evening! -goes back to trying to understand homework-

If you want, you could just tell me which episode, and the exact time you hear this desu style greeting, and I'll go and search for that episode on BT and have a look.

[Kates]

"Majide!" is a good one too. It's popular among youth (still? Man, I hope so) and means "no way!" or "are you serious?" It's along the same lines as "masaka."