I love to look in my Japanese-English dictionaries and find interesting word meanings. A lot of words are two characters that, when put together, can hold an entirely different meaning when separated. To whit:
- 神風 kamikaze: literally it means "God's wind" or "divine wind." And I thought it just meant "suicide bomber." This adds an interesting insight to the Japanese mindset during WWII.
- 食道 shokudou: separately the two characters mean "food" and "road." Together they mean "esaphogus." Anyone know the Latin meaning of "esaphogus?" Is it similar at all?
- 男色 danshoku: These two characters are "man" and "color." Can you guess what they mean when combined? "Homosexual:" a man of a different color. Hehe.
Labels: Fun Facts, Japanese |
Name: Ruthie
"Kamikaze" goes back much further than WWII. It was the name given to typhoons that popped up to conveniently destroy an invading Mongol fleet, TWICE. They chose the name for the suicide planes because they thought it was inspirational.