Japanese WOTY

[Douglas G. Wilson]

In the current news:

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20081201-00000016-oric-ent

Top fashionable Japanese words for 2008 (winner and runner-up) (if I'm
reading this right): "arafou" and "guu" (my transliteration preferences).

"Arafou" means "40-ish". It is an abbreviation of "araundo foutii" =
"around forty". The actress Amami Yuuki [left] is indeed 40-ish, and she
starred in the TV series "Around 40" recently.

http://www.tbs.co.jp/around40/

[I guess with the aging of the population, you could say arafou is 'the
new arasaa' (araundo-saatii = around-30)?]

"Guu" means (among other things) "good". Apparently the (40-ish)
comedienne Edo Harumi [right, making the thumbs-up for "good", I guess]
makes jokes/puns with "guu" (versus the word-ending "-ingu" [= English
"-ing"], if I'm understanding right).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGiQQ5EmgGo

(in the last half, there are "chaaminguu" = "charming", "dansinguu" =
"dancing", "anatawaguu" = "you are good", etc., to my naive ear).

Any savant, please correct my misconceptions if necessary.

-- Doug Wilson

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