An A to Z of Engrish Part 4 – H to L

Again, Engrish is not exactly my preferred way of referring to “Japanese English”, but getting bored with the same ole blog post titles and probably still at least four to go until I finally get to Z! Am also writing two more serious articles on the topic

hair make (hea meiku) – hair and make up (for a big party, at a hair salon)

half (haafu) – mixed Japanese/ foreign parentage (standard word that is not generally considered insulting)

half coat (haafu kooto) – short coat

ham egg (hamu eggu) – ham and eggs

handle (handoru) – steering wheel or handlebars of bike (perhaps from a time when it was a handle rather than a wheel)

happening (hapuningu) – unexpected incident, not artistic event

happy end (happii endo) – happy ending

hard (haado) – hardware (not hard-core, and very rarely meaning difficult)

heading shoot (hedin shuuto) – a header towards goal

Hello work (hero waaku) – the official and usually used name for government job centres

health centre (herusu sentaa) – recreation centre, rather than a clinic (apparently, never came across this one)

health meter (herusu miita) – bathroom scales (the Japanese “taijukei” is almost exclusively used in conversation, but you will see this written sometimes)

hearing test (hiaringu testo) – listening comprehension test

heartful (haatofuru) – with good or warm feeling/ good hearted??

high collar (hai kara) – stylish/ snobbish – outdated slang

high grade (hai gureido) – high quality anything (not just uranium)

high miss (hai misu) – spinster – outdated expression??

high sense (hai sensu) – good taste

high teens (hai tiin) – late teens

high vision (hai bijon) – HDTV

hip (hippu) – the most common euphemism for buttocks, and not meaning the bit round the side as in English

hire (haiya) – limousine (although often only the same size as a taxi) with driver

home drama (hoomu dorama) – soap opera (but probably not as long running as in most countries, and rarely on more than once a week)

homeless (hoomuresu) – homeless people

homewear (hoomuwea) – tracksuits etc for relaxing around the house

homo – homosexual (not disparaging, apparently)

hot tea (hotto tii) – the opposite of iced tea, used even when the temperature is fairly obvious

hotcake (hotto keiki) – pancake

hun st (han suto) – short for hunger strike

hus (hazu- short for husband) – outdated slang??

hussle (hassuru) – complete determination (apparently)

hut (hyutte) – simple accommodation for mountain climbers

hysteri (hisuteri – from the German for hysteria) – bad temper

idling stop (aiduringu sutoppu) – leaving your engine on while parked, often seen on signs telling you not to do this common action

illustr (irasutro) – illustrated (map etc), usually used as a noun

image up (imejii appu) – improving your image

Indian – still used to refer to American Indian/ Native American, and almost exclusively as Indian Indian is “indojin”

infla (infure) – short for inflation, and almost always used in place of the longer word

infra (infura) – infrastructure

initial (inisharu) – used for “your initials”, but not with the more general meaning of “first”

inside report (insaido repooto) – exposé

intelli (interi) – intellectual (noun referring to person)

intelligent (interijento) – something which is computerized (apparently)

interphone (intafoon) – intercom

iron (airon) – used to refer to the thing used for ironing and the action, not to the metal

jar (jya) – electric rice cooker (apparently, although I say suihanki and my in-laws use yet another expression)

jeans (jiinzu) – denim (as well as jeans, although they are often known as “G-pan”, from “jeans pants”) jet coaster (jetto koosta) – roller coaster

jockey (jokki) – a mug of beer

J-pop (jei poppu) – Japanese pop music (this is now probably standard English among people who know it exists)

jumper (jyanpa) – jacket of thick, rough cloth, something like a denim jacket, not a synonym for sweater/ pullover

just (jyasuto) – exact/ exactly, not “only”, with predictable confusions when telling the time in English

k (rather than km) – kilometres

Karte (kaata, from German) – medical records

katsu – short for cutlet, and now all the way back into the English language as part of tonkatsu

key holder (kii horudaa) – key ring

keyboard (kii boodo) – used to refer to a computer, not a piano

lab (rabbu) – photos only, not science

lady first (reidii faasto) – ladies first

level up (reburu appu) – improvement

les (lezu) – short for lesbian, and apparently not insulting

limousine bus (rimojin basu) – airport shuttle bus

lip (rippu) – lip salve

live house (raibu hausu) – music venue

living kitchen (ribingu kitchin) – open plan

LL (eru eru) – XL

loca (roka) – short for (film) location

long seller – long term seller, like a best seller but in time rather than sales

Los (rosu) – short for Los Angeles, as LA is rarely if ever used

low teens (roo tiin) – early teens, i.e. someone under 15

lumpen (from German lumpen proletariat) – homeless people (never seen this as “homeless” is the normal noun in Japanese, maybe technical or old fashioned??)

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 9:37 am and is filed under Teaching English in Japan, TEFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.