Seriously. Cut it out.

[honooko]

PET PEEVE:

"For Kami's sake" or "Thank Kami".神, [kami]. (n) god; deity; divinity; spirit; kami

Comments

[skadihelias]

LOL \o/

I'm glad someone finally pointed this out.

[honooko]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is annoyed by it. XD

[karadin]

Ah, thanks for that comment, I hope a lot of people read it.

[honooko]

I have it flocked now; do you think I should make it public? I don't want to upset anyone, it's just an ignorance issue that a lot of people make, I think. :/

[karadin]

I don't think its a bad thing, I personally would want to know if I was saying something out of context.

[nogah]

Yes, thank you.

I'm no expert, but I don't remember hearing anyone call Kamisama when something happens, the way westerners say "oh my god". Usually it's just "Yabai" being wrongfully translated, isn't it?

[honooko]

'Yabai' gets translated so many ways, it's ridiculous. A lot of subbers translate it as "shit", but I always think of it more on the level of "crap" because you can say it in front of your grandmother. XD

[pashoshi]

...do people really do that? I don't think I've seen it, or at least only very rarely.

But anyway, yes. This is why fangirl Japanese is even more of a bad idea than usual if you don't understand how to use it properly.

[honooko]

Yeah, unfortunately they do. Someone who friended me does it. I think it's just ignorance, but it's still annoying.

[ryogrande]

not to mention that it's fangirl japanese and fucking annoying.

if you're going to speak (type) japanese, speak japanese. with kanji. otherwise speak fucking english.

i know you feel my pain.

thanks for the lesson though, i didn't know that. i don't think i would ever translate it as "oh my god." i have heard it as "神様、お願い" but that's completely different and fits in with what you were saying about the difference between 神 and 神様.

i think よかった would be a good enough substitute for "thank god," and as for "for god's sake" i'm not sure because i never say that. XD i'm sure there are ways to express that that have nothing to do with "god," because really, it doesn't.

people need to realize that you can't translate directly from english to japanese, you just can't. and stop trying.

♥

[honooko]

よかった is great! It can be said with varying levels of inflection to indicate the level of relief!

As for "for god's sake", I think there are various phrases which, while have different meanings, can be used to the same effect. The English phrase is an indication of anger, impatience, or disbelief; you could instead question their intelligence (お前バカ？), declare yourself finished with the situation (もういい！) or demonstrate disgust (それいやだ！)

Languages have all sorts of great phrases; why would anyone just want to transplant their own?