Japanese isn't English [Mini-Rant]

[starseerdrgn]

Okay... I've seen this in the past, but what is it with people treating words from other languages as if they're in the same usage as English? Japanese in particular is practically abused in this regard.

What brought this up? The following mentality: "Futa/Futanari is a slur against trans* and unisex people!"

No… No it's not.

Japanese is a descriptive language relying heavily on context (more so than English), relying heavily on literal meanings in words, rather than implied meanings as in English.

In this example, "futa" is one reading of the kanji 二, which you may have heard spoken as "ni". It means "two". With "futanari", the kanji are 二形, which means "two" and "shape, form, or style". Combined, they form a word meaning "hermaphrodite", or more literally, "two-gendered".

This isn't a slur, even if people are using it as such. It's literally the Japanese word for hermaphrodisim and unisex. And don't get me started on "hermaphrodite is a slur". As someone who identifies as such, I will fly into a rage.

But yes... Words being misused is nothing new. Quit saying "[non-English] word is a slur" when it's just dumbass English speakers using it as such. It makes you look like an uneducated hatemonger... Or someone working at Fox News. There's really no difference these days.