Wee-wee-ism
One of the things that's significantly expanded my horizons is reading a book called "Japanese Street Slang" by Peter Constantine to Mason. It's a very RUDE book to read to a nine-year old, but only a nine-year old can truly appreciate how hillarious farts are. So, we often skip the entries on sex-related things (though I read those to myself and to him if they're not too graphic), and go on to the hilarity of bodily functions of all sorts.
I never thought our obsession with Japanese street slang would lead to a deeper understanding of weird moments in Manga like this one:
The fan translated sites went with, "I want to pee alone," which probably sounds even stranger to a Western ear--
--Unless you know about the villiage practice* of tsureshoben, "pissing together." Tsureshoben according to our slang book started off referring to when people used to, "take a break in their field work to go off together for a piss." The entry on tsureshoben goes on to explain, "Today people still quote the proverb Inaka no tsureshoben 'pissing together in the country.'... Another proverb worth memorizing: Tsureshoben, tabi no michi. 'Pissing together on the road.' This proverb indicates that urinating together during an outing or a picnic is a sign of friendship. Ideally, close friends should be able to drop formalities and relax to the extent that even when nature calls they can respond in each other's company." (149-150)
Yeah, so even though I love the fic that sprouted up to explain this moment, the above might be closer to the truth.
*A fascinating side note to this moment of oddness from this particular character is that his family is one of the big noble houses. His familiarity with country practices (and his general laissez faire attitude) has made me wonder what kind of nobles his family is... were they a family that made its fortune through hard work? The sort that perhaps brought itself up from a lower class, ala a kind of nouveau riche? I tend to think so. I think maybe we're supposed to guess this about this character from moments like these, though I may be reading more into this than is there.
I never thought our obsession with Japanese street slang would lead to a deeper understanding of weird moments in Manga like this one:
The fan translated sites went with, "I want to pee alone," which probably sounds even stranger to a Western ear--
--Unless you know about the villiage practice* of tsureshoben, "pissing together." Tsureshoben according to our slang book started off referring to when people used to, "take a break in their field work to go off together for a piss." The entry on tsureshoben goes on to explain, "Today people still quote the proverb Inaka no tsureshoben 'pissing together in the country.'... Another proverb worth memorizing: Tsureshoben, tabi no michi. 'Pissing together on the road.' This proverb indicates that urinating together during an outing or a picnic is a sign of friendship. Ideally, close friends should be able to drop formalities and relax to the extent that even when nature calls they can respond in each other's company." (149-150)
Yeah, so even though I love the fic that sprouted up to explain this moment, the above might be closer to the truth.
*A fascinating side note to this moment of oddness from this particular character is that his family is one of the big noble houses. His familiarity with country practices (and his general laissez faire attitude) has made me wonder what kind of nobles his family is... were they a family that made its fortune through hard work? The sort that perhaps brought itself up from a lower class, ala a kind of nouveau riche? I tend to think so. I think maybe we're supposed to guess this about this character from moments like these, though I may be reading more into this than is there.
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