Has anyone else heard or seen this word before, weeaboo? According to Urban Dictionary, it's… - Feed Post by Koukyoshi
Has anyone else heard or seen this word before, weeaboo? According to Urban Dictionary, it's someone who:
1. is so obsessed with Japanese culture that they ignore their own.
2. is obsessed beyond healthy levels with anime.
3. ruins activities for other people with overzealous references to said anime.
4. is so oblivious to reality they only care about anime.
I don't know about 3 and 4, but 1 and 2 definitely applied to me before I moved to Japan. I used to watch 2 or 3 24-ep series easily in a week, and when I was out and about I would mostly listen to anime songs. After moving here, though, I've listened to more American music than I ever have, and I've watched a ton of American TV shows. Interesting, huh?
1. is so obsessed with Japanese culture that they ignore their own.
2. is obsessed beyond healthy levels with anime.
3. ruins activities for other people with overzealous references to said anime.
4. is so oblivious to reality they only care about anime.
I don't know about 3 and 4, but 1 and 2 definitely applied to me before I moved to Japan. I used to watch 2 or 3 24-ep series easily in a week, and when I was out and about I would mostly listen to anime songs. After moving here, though, I've listened to more American music than I ever have, and I've watched a ton of American TV shows. Interesting, huh?
posted by Koukyoshi
Comments 11
I've only seen the term "weeaboo" relatively recently. Such a wierd moronic looking word. Makes me wonder about the people who use it as part of their vocabulary, where do they even know this presumably made up word from in the first place? Even the random noises babies make sound more intelligent than how that word sounds... I've never heard it spoken in real life though...
With that rant out of the way... #2 applies to me quite well, #1 not so much, #4 very slightly, and #3 not at all. I guess only once you go live in a foreign country do you finally realise how good the stuff you had back home was? Would be nice if there was a way of making that appreciation kick in in without having to emigrate. :P
That's very weird that you turned to America TV shows instead of Anime? Don't get me wrong, I love American shows, but when you compare it to Anime, there's a huge difference.
Nowadays people can't even mention that they "find some anime interesting" that they get called a weaboo. It's quite an annoying word, but I have to admit that there are some people who kinda ask for it...
Well, from that list, 1 definitely applies to me. I am completely obsessed with the japanese culture, and I definitely won't rest until I live there. I don't know if I'm going to be able to adapt or not, but I just have to try. Sure, I love anime, and it was what got me interested in the culture, but when I think of moving to Japan, moving because of anime doesn't even cross my mind. To me, it's a hobbie just like watching football, tv shows, movies...(okay, maybe I like it a little bit more than those xD).
@mog: I only noticed it 'cause I've been going on the Japanese subreddit recently (I wanted to see if anyone else got their ass handed to them by the N1 like I did, lol). But I agree. It's a weird-looking word.
I'm not really sure what it is. I've spoken about that to some of my American friends here, and they've done the same as well. I've never felt homesick but perhaps that's my way of keeping a little bit of home.
@smexytab: I completely agree with you, especially since I used to watch anime all day! My reason for studying Japanese was so that I could watch it without subtitles!
@beee: I'm definitely gonna have to agree with you when you say some people ask for it.
I think your personality has a lot to do with it, but I don't think adapting to how the Japanese do things is difficult. Of course, there will be things you don't agree with, but I think those will be few and far between.
I prefer manga to anime :D、どうぞよろしくお願いします。
I feel some people do ask to be called that word like what beee_17 said. All my own personal opinion of course. However, I do get very annoyed when people say they want to move to Japan JUST because of anime. OR they say their country sucks and Japan is better JUST because of anime, anisongs and a bit of J-pop/J-rock. (#1) And I find it weird the moments when people try to do "eye smiles" like what anime characters do or try to act like an anime character.(#4) I know people can act and do what they want. It just...annoys me.
Also, I pretty much studied Japanese because Japanese edition of books tend to be smaller than the English ones. XD So I studied to read novels!- Haha. I guess I do also know a couple of people like you described who definitely kind of deserve to be ridiculed. But it doesn't excuse the sound of that word!
Say I were the school bully and strongly disliked anime... If I was looking for someone to beat up and two people were in front of me--one of them a strong cool well-liked-by-everybody guy, and the other an scrawny irritating socially-unaware anime-obsessed otaku nerd who kept speaking randomly in Japanese while in the wrong country... Whichever one of them happened to say "weeaboo" would definitely be the one that's getting beaten up! Although, with my duty as school bully, I guess I'd probably still need to beat up the nerd after that, but at least the nerd would have a decent chance of running away this time... :P - Whooa that's kind of far. (@mog86uk example of school bully beating someone up) I don't think anyone should be getting beaten up because they like anime. Even if they do annoy me. I'll keep it to myself and if I need to vent, I'll vent to a friend that I trust and know won't leak stuff.
If it really gets too much then I'll try to change the topic or ask if they've seen a non-anime tv show/movie then hope the convo won't change back to anime. XD
I always thought that weaboo came from wapanese (wannabe + Japanese) which is suppose to be a more derogatory slur version of Japanophile. Japanophile would be the more academic less slur/derogatory way of saying weaboo. ^.^ Plus it came first before all these other words. - @TashaMints, I don't think he meant what he said in a serious manner. If it all, he made it easy to understand how the term was created. It can be annoying to constantly listen to something over and over, even worse if you don't like the topic
- @smexytab Ohhh.
I used to watch a lot of anime and read (English version) manga (anime only subbed, can't stand Japanese stuff with English voices - or vice versa) prior to my first visit to Japan. At that time I met my wife (then girlfriend) and started working harder on studying Japanese, so anime took a side seat, and after moving here I also watch more English stuff (Canadian, American, British, etc), but this is generally to keep hearing English on a regular basis. I do not live in a big city, and thus, my only chances to speak or listen to English on a regular basis are when I'm teaching it, which, unless it's one of my higher level students I'm teaching, is nowhere near the level one would be used to speaking every day "back home". Watching English TV helps to combat the "not using English" thing.
