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Baby Talk Jiichan and Baachan Used? |
Source Information: anecdotal
By Emy Murakawa
I am not a grandma yet, but I experienced a foreshadowing of it when my niece and nephew, Kirsten and Zachary, were born. It was amazing to me when little words and phrases that my parents had used with my children just popped into my head out of nowhere when I had no conscious memory of them. I thought I’d write some of them down and make a little glossary. The derivations are mostly suppositions and guesses, so if you know differently, please let me know!
Elementary and almost immediately used – nenne, sleep (from nemuru, to sleep), dakko, carry, and mamma, food (I always supposed from ummai, delicious)!
Tatta, stand up (from tatsu, to stand). I always thought it was funny that there would be baby-talk for stand up but the opposite was always the formal osuwari (sit down). My best friend is Chinese, so I borrowed the Chinese baby-talk for sit down, cho-cho (no clue as to its derivation!).
Iiko for good child.
Chodai for give to me (from kureru, to receive and kudasai, the imperative).
Jiji for dirty.Pon-pon for tummy.
Pai-pai for throw away.
Nai-nai for put away.
Bocha for bath.
Dame (not good) or ikemasen (will not do) for no. I must admit, “no” was much more direct, so I did not use dame or ikemasen very much!
Abunai for dangerous. There is a Chinese phrase, “momu,” that sends a similar connotation, but I’m told it actually means “don’t touch.”
Niko-niko for smile.
Itai for ouch.
Tai-tai for an injury (equivalent to an owey).
Then there were the body parts for all the pointing games –
Me – eye
Mayuge – eyebrow
Matsuge - eyelash
Hana – nose
Kuchi – mouth
Kami - hair
Atama – head
Kata – shoulder
Senaka - back
Te – hand
Ude - arm
Yubi - fingers
Ashi – leg
Koshi – lower back
Oshiri - buttocks
Hiza – lap
Two versions of Japanese Peek-a-Boo (must be regional differences, but I used them interchangeably) –
Oran-oran-otta
Oran from oranai from orimasen, not to be there, and otta from orimashita from orimasu, to be there,
and the simpler
Inaiyo-Ba
Inai from the negative of the verb imasu, is (imasen), and “ba” instead of “boo”.
Here’s my version of the Japanese Pat-a-Cake (Does someone know what it’s really supposed to be?)
Cho-chi, cho-chi (clap, clap)
A-wa-wa (hand to mouth, like Indian war cries)
Tenguri, tenguri (rolling the hands over one another)
Hara-pon-pon (patting the tummy)
Atama-ten-ten (patting the head)
Jinnami, jinnami, jinnami-yo (pressing your index finger into the palm of the other hand and making small circular motions).
And another one is with the eyes
Agari-me (pushing the outer edges of your eyes up)
Sagari-me (pushing the outer edges of your eyes down)
Kuri-kuri-mawatte (rolling the outer edges of your eyes in a circle)
Nyanko no me (pulling the outer edges of your eyes out to the side/cat’s eyes)
There are a few song games, too, but they’re much longer and harder to put to paper. Can you think of words I’ve missed? It’d be nice to have others contribute to the Cultural Corner, and you are all invited to submit information, ideas and articles. You may submit to my attention by e-mail to office@vjcc.com.