Maybe I'm Also Arrogant For Writing This

I hate it when people profess their intolerance for people who do certain things. This entire entry will probably come off as rather hypocritical then and maybe this statement of self-defense means absolutely nothing, but here goes anyway. I wouldn't say I'm "intolerant" of these people, as I've never said a word against them until now and because I probably won't think too much less of a person if they do it, but it just irks me. ...Anyway.

This is a growing trend on sites that garner a significant population from various subcultures. Example one: deviantART. I have lost count of the number of journal entries, stamps, clubs, and deviation descriptions that will right out write off anyone who uses (or attempts to use) Japanese (or Wapanese -- but the first Urban Dictionary definition offends me, by the by). I can understand why so many people would be annoyed, especially with the anime subculture having grown (and still growing) so rapidly, thus population all corners of the Internet with crazy fangirls and boys who entertain and amuse themselves with uses of words like "kawaii," "sugoi," "baka," "gomen," "-chan," "-kun," "-sama," and "ne." I understand this would be even more annoying for people that do not consider themselves members of the subculture and have been forced to learn the meaning of these words through mass overusage. And even though I do consider myself part of this subculture, I'd be lying if I told you it didn't annoy me sometimes. I will probably punch you in the face if you call me "Kiri-chan."

But is there really a reason to rally against them as harshly as so many people have? Most of the kids using the terms are 12-15 and feel a little special for knowing what they are. It's like a (not-so) secret language they can use amongst friends and other people that "understand" them (I think a recent installment of ANN's Hey Answerman! used this analogy). It's just that the "in-group" is so ridiculously large now that there's lots of overspill. However, most of these kids outgrow it by the time they hit 16 or 17. I would also be lying to you if I said that I've never been guilty of using some of those words (more on this later) -- I'm sure hunting down archives of forum posts I made five or six years ago would harvest a decent crop of silly Japanese terms, but come on. Let kids have their fun.

Really, I think it's a little arrogant and elitist to come down so hard on them. I don't think any of the people using the words are "trying to be Japanese" or "rejecting their actual heritage." There's no need to be so offended by the use of harmless words, especially if you already know what they mean. As the subculture expands, the words have become such a normal occurrence that they might as well be up there with other subculture-spawned terms like "lol," "iawtc," or "n00b." Some people will also rag on the l337 subculture's butchering of various English words, but despite the fact that I just wrote an entry ranting about the general disregarding of our language, I don't think that the usage of 1337 terms correlates directly to not knowing spelling and grammar worth a shit. Likewise, usage of miscellaneous Japanese terms does not mean they don't know the English equivalents or are trying to be Japanese. I don't even think they're trying to be "cool" or "cute." They're just having fun.

I like the Japanese language a lot. I think it flows very well and would love to actually sit down and learn it some day. I generally believe that I've picked up a decent slice of vocabulary and while I've outgrown using random terms online, I've begun weaving some words into my everyday verbal speech along with Spanish, which I've come to appreciate a lot more now that I've stopping taking classes for it. So frequently, I find myself responding "¿qué?" or "nanda?" instead of "what?" using "¿quien es?" and "¿qué es eso?" instead of "who is it?" and "what's that?" and "doko desu ka?" for "where is it?" I also seem to use "sou" and "sou desu" a lot for simple agreement and both "shirimasen" and "yo no sé" for "I don't know."

And I wonder, would people also consider this pretentious of me? Am I trying to be Japanese or Spanish? I don't really think so. I just enjoy using the languages, even if I'm not very proficient in either. It makes me smile when my brother and I can converse in Spanish, even if they're just little phrases that we banter back and forth ("No sé!" "¿Por qué no sé?" "No sé porque no sé! D:"). And yes, there is a little bit of enjoyment that comes when people around us don't understand what we're saying. It's like an in-joke and everyone loves being a part of something like that, right? But yeah, one of these days, I half expect some asshole to come up to me and tell me I'm not Japanese and therefore should not be using random bits and pieces of phrases.

The only thing I can sort of understand confronting someone about is incorrect usage of grammar. By all means, if I am killing the poor language's grammar, please inform me of this. Preferably in a civil and polite manner. But maybe that's just me and my I-love-grammar nonsense.

I wanted to extend the general concept of this entry (railing against certain people for doing certain things that really shouldn't be that big of a deal) to something else in the advanced text-based roleplaying community, but I'm all tired of writing now. Maybe later. In the meantime, people, really. Stop giving the kids such a hard time. Why do you think they're so many emokids these days anyway?