Why are vegetables so insulting in Japanese? | Japan Station 162/Ichimon Japan 14

This episode of Japan Station is a rebroadcast of Ichimon Japan episode 12.

On this episode of Ichimon Japan we ask: Why are vegetables so unsulting in Japanese? On this episode we are honored to once again be joined by Kyle Broyles of the Tokyo Splosion podcast and Hard Officers YouTube channel.

Topics Discussed

• Some funny Japanese vegetable-based insults and their (supposed) etymologies
• What the term daikon ashi means
• Why daikon ashi is so insulting and reserved only for use on women
• The usage of the term "dumpling legs"
• What the term daikon yakusha means
• Why daikon yakusha is considered an insult
• Why it's insulting to call someone a bean sprout (moyashi) in Japanese
• What it means to "stink of potatoes" (to be imokusai)
• What a "country milkboy" is
• What an "embankment pumpkin" is (dote kabocha)
• The most commonly cited story explaining the insulting meaning of the term dote kabocha
• A tip for training yourself to like vegetables
• Interesting Japanese slang involving the the Japanese word for eggplant (nasu)
• What the term bokenasu means
• Why it is insulting to be called a bokenasu
• What the heck an otankonasu is
• Two theories for where the "otanko" part of otankonasu derived from
• The most common etymologies of the term otankonasu
• The potential connection between otankonasu and Edo period pleasure districts
• Bubble era Japanese slang
• How pīman (green pepper) was used as an insult in Japan in the 1970s
• The difficulties localizers face when translating idioms from Japanese into English
• Whether the Japanese word for "vegetable" (yasai) totally overlaps in meaning with its English counterpart
• Why there seem to be more vegetable-related insults in Japanese than fruit-related insults
• And more!

Note: All of the etymologies provided during this episode were found in Japanese language sources and are the most commonly cited. However, just because they are the most commonly cited etymologies that does not mean they are true, so please keep this in mind.

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