We all use the internet! It’s how you’re able to access this blog, watch funny cat videos, and submit your assignments on Canvas. You can converse with friends and family through text or also through video chatting!
And of course, just like in real life, we use language differently online when communicating, especially with close friends.
Think about it in terms of the English language: we do such things as using LOL and forming new slang out of old words (ex: suspect into sus), so it makes sense that other languages utilize this exact thing in order to convey our messages in a shorter, faster way. Though, it looks very different than what one might expect.
I’ll go into a couple of common “slang” terms used primarily over online communication/texts!
1. 笑 / 草
This one will maybe make sense to those who have a good grasp of kanji! 笑 is pronounced wara, and it comes from the verb meaning “to laugh.” So, this is just like saying LOL or something similar, to show that you are laughing.
笑 can be simplified over text, which it often is, to just w. This is because waru starts with a w. Simple, right!? The more w’s, the funnier the situation is!
Now, it gets a little confusing when you start seeing people using 草. 草 is pronounced kusa, which means “grass”, and it has the same meaning as 笑 when texting. But how does “grass” translate into “LOL” ?
Let’s look at it this way: let’s say we’re talking about something really funny, and so we use a lot of w’s.
踊れない wwwww (odorenai wwwww) → I can’t dance lolololol
Look at all those w’s! Doesn’t it kind of look like grass? Yes, that’s exactly how 笑 turned into w, which then turned into 草. Now you can tell all the jokes you want and express how funny they are!
2. すこ
This slang was born from a single unfortunate typo. The word that it was born from is すき (suki), meaning “like.” One user on a J forum misspelled suki as suko, and so naturally everyone made fun of the typo. Eventually, it evolved into a slang term that is commonly found in YouTube comment sections or on online forums.
猫がすこ！(neko ga suko) → I like the cat!
Fun fact: In a similar way, the slang meko was evolved from a typo of neko, meaning cat!
3. ヤバい
Yabai has a variety of meaning, and it solely depends on the context of the conversation. Yabai can mean anything from “super amazing” to “horrifically terrible.” Most commonly, it is used when you’re expressing shock, either in a positive or negative way.
An online translator may want to translate yabai as “dangerous,” which technically isn’t wrong, but that’s not what the slang means in current day!
兄の服はヤバい (ani no fuku wa yabai) → My older brother’s clothes are amazing/disgusting.
These are only just a small bit of internet slang that is common among Japanese speakers through online communication and texts. The more you start to utilize, the more people will start to believe that you’re a native speaker!
Plus, texting gets super easy when you only have to type a few characters to convey your emotions www
~Tara
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