Mazaa kon is short for “mother complex” and is the Janglish expression for mama’s boy/ Oedipus complex. As in English, Japanese words spelt with n change to an m sound before p. Unlike English, there is no chance of actually replacing it with an m sound in the spelling as n is the only consonant Japanese syllables can end with and the final consonant in borrowed words that end in m is always followed by a vowel (e.g. chiimu for team). This therefore leaves a rather strange “orphan n” when mazaa kompurekkusu (which would be spelt mazaa konpurekkusu) is shortened to mazaa con with an n sound, as the only other option would be to change the n (pronounced m) in the original to mu.
Different in Japlish and Konglish
October 27, 2011 at 11:22 pm (Japanese English)
Just posted a pretty big list on my TEFL blog here.
The same in Japlish and Konglish
October 9, 2011 at 9:38 am (Japanese English)
Have made a list over on my TEFL blog. More than you might think, given the tricky history between the two countries!
Why do the Japanese say “scrap” for newspaper clippings?
September 29, 2011 at 9:04 pm (Japanese English)
… therefore completely losing the meaning of something you should throw away.
According to the book on Japlish I’m reading at the moment, it comes from “scrapbook”, which makes sense.
Why do the Japanese say “doctor stop”?
September 26, 2011 at 10:18 am (Japanese English)
According to English in Japanese by Akira Miura it originally came from a doctor stopping a boxing match and was only later applied to doctors stopping you drinking etc.
Why do the Japanese pronounce dozen “dasu”?
September 21, 2011 at 4:17 pm (Japanese English)
Losing a final n is very uncommon when English words are borrowed into Japanese, and this doesn’t seem to be a borrowing from another language, so it’s always been a puzzle to me.
According to English in Japanese by Akira Miura, the pronunciation might have been taken from the written abbreviation “doz”.
A whole article of mine on Japlish pronunciation here:
How did fantastic become fantajikku in Japanese?
September 17, 2011 at 9:30 pm (Japanese English)
It doesn’t follow regular pronunciation changes, which would make it “fantasutikku” or “fantasuchikku”.
According to English in Japanese by Akira Miura it might have been derived from the title of the Disney film Fantasia rather than just being a pronunciation change from fantastic.
I’ve written a whole article on Japanese English pronunciation changes here.
Why is “miss” used to mean mistake in Japanese?
September 15, 2011 at 1:26 am (Japanese English)
According to English in Japanese by Akira Miura it might be a shortening of “mistake” rather than a change of meaning of the word “miss”, as I’d always assumed.
Why “seat knock” for fielding practice?
September 14, 2011 at 10:26 am (Japanese baseball, Japanese English)
“Shiito in this case is used in the sense of… ‘position’, while nokku in Japanese baseball means ‘hitting a fungo, whether it is a fly or a grounder.’ Shiito nokku, therefore, means ‘hitting fungoes to fielders in their respective positions.’ No one seems to know where, when, and by whom this pseudo-loan was coined.”
English in Japanese pgs 151/ 152
Why is “mood” used to mean atmosphere in Japanese?
September 12, 2011 at 5:42 am (Japanese English)
E.g. in Japanese a restaurant can be moody, and that’s a good thing!
According to English in Japanese by Akira Miura, it came from the expression “mood music”.
