While this blog is, technically, about yaoi, it's not really about yaoi. Read on with impunity.
You see, while I am a yaoi fangirl and have many friends who are equally yaoi fangirls, all said friends are online friends, and we do all our talking online. You know what that means?
It means that no one ever actually, physically said the word 'yaoi' in my presence, that's what it means. So, being the middle-class Caucasian-American that I am, and not giving the matter much thought, I settled on an fairly American pronunciation of the word. 'Yah-oy'.
Which may not mean much to you, but trust me, serious yaoi fangirls who just read that are screaming, clutching their ears, and calling for their maker. Or just smirking, depending on their temperaments.
You see, 'yaoi' is a Japanese word. Well, okay, a Japanese acronym. Which means that all those vowels are supposed to be separate entities. And the word (acronym, yeah yeah) is supposed to be pronounced 'ya-oh-ee'. More or less. Boy, am I glad someone told me that -before- I went to Anime Expo.
But you know, I think I'll keep saying 'yah-oy'. Why? Because I sound like a total fucking idiot saying 'yowee', and so do you.
Unless you're actually Japanese. Which I am most definitely not.
Sometimes, just to keep those humorless fangirls from having heart attacks, I'll slur it a bit, so it comes out 'yah-oeh'. But... shit. Maybe I ought to give in and say 'gay porn' instead. Same number of syllables as 'yah-oy'! Or just... 'smut'. 'Smut' works.
Replies: add your comment: currently 6 comments
Whatever floats your boat, I guess.... I do things like that with some words. We all prolly do. For example, I KNOW "manga" is supposed to be pronounced "MONG-guh", but my friends and I always say "MANG-ga". Because we also are not Japanese, and hey, everyone else says it that way around here...And "anime" is probably really supposed to be pronounced "ANNIE-may", but we always say "ANNA-may". Again, not Japanese, and everyone else sure does... *sweat drop*
Posted by Wolf @ 08/14/2001 01:29 AM EST
oh...my. I'd wondered about that, though I mentally mangled it into something like "yoy" (though I KNEW that was wrong, I had no better ideas. -_-; Except "yah-wee", which is close to an enormous blasphemy and all. O_o)
ANYWAY, ....yeah. Informative. I had no clue how to pronounce the smeggin' thing, actually.
Posted by StB (by the bye, that doesn't stand for "soulbond" ^_^;;) @ 08/14/2001 03:58 AM EST
Ya know, I've never heard it either, but I always thought it would be "yawee"İ But then, I'm strangeİ
Do you say Either "Eeether" or "Eyether"?
"Mehsure" or "Maysure"?
Posted by Lack Thereof @ 08/14/2001 08:12 AM EST
YOWEE!! I stubbed my foot.
It sounds so amusing, doesn't it? Yowee yowee yowee...
I know I pronounce Aya "A-yah", which annoys the heck out of some people. It's a bad habit.
Posted by Quezzie @ 08/14/2001 01:56 PM EST
Well, but "yowee" does go better with the old joke about it actually being an acronym for "stop it, my butt hurts". XD
"Yowee! I have a large glowing cone aimed at my nether regions!" Ahem.
I think every fan of stuff from another culture eventually has to decide their personal boundary between "I want to respect this and be as close to the original as I can" and "You know what? As much as I love this, I am a foreigner to this and that ain't ever changing, so as long as my friends understand what the hell I'm talking about, it's all good."
And hey, if there's anywhere one can safely be a h0, it's in the privacy of yer own head. I think a lot of us have entire mental harems that we'll never fully admit to. XD
Posted by Fukurou @ 08/15/2001 04:03 AM EST
Now, see, I have many conflicts. The oi sound is different in English, French, and Japanese. Which are the only three languages I know how to pronounce things in.
I'm very much guilty of calling it 'yah-oy', and while I've known for a while that it was wrong, I have a sinking feeling that if I started pronouncing it correctly people would think I'd stubbed my toe or something.
Posted by Ed @ 08/15/2001 03:28 PM EST
