"Poop"
« previous post | next post »
[This is a guest post by Nathan Hopson]
Yes, the following image from the most recent Weekly Playboy (週刊プレイボーイ Shūkan Pureibōi; not a regional edition of Hugh Hefner's Playboy), is labeled "Poop":
I'm not sure whether to be relieved or further dismayed by the fact that this appears to be a nickname ("nom de loo?") or other sort of descriptor for Amaki Jun, the model featured in this photo. That she is squatting only adds to my confusion.
The nickname "Poop" is an acronym. The corresponding Japanese words are contained within each of the English letters:
P: Professional
o: of
o: oppai (roughly, "boobs")
p: player
I'm not certain what the "player" refers to. The placement of the two os is easier to fathom.
Undoubtedly, someone, perhaps at Shūpure, as it's known, thought that the word "poop" sounded cute. And I suppose that's true, so far as it goes. But that doesn't make this any less cringeworthy.
Malcolm Reid said,
February 18, 2017 @ 10:36 am
Going by the model's twitter, the POOP bit seems to be a reference to Piko-Taro's unlikely hit PPAP and someone at Weekly Playboy appears to have decided to change what the letters stand for.
Dan Lufkin said,
February 18, 2017 @ 2:10 pm
Could this illustrate rejection of the elaborate Japanese bidet?
Adam Roberts said,
February 18, 2017 @ 2:30 pm
A quick google image search suggests that the lady in question's main asset, as a model, is her ample bosom. This in turn leads me to wonder if 'POOP' is a Japanese approximation of the English word 'BOOB', and intended to indicate that part of the body. I'm no expert, and don't speak the language, but Wikipedia tells me that the Japanese pronunciation of 'P' and 'B' are similar, except that the latter 'may be weakened to a fricative, especially in fast and/or casual speech', which makes me wonder if 'poop' may sound more like the Western word 'boob' to Japanese ears than would /vuv/ (or /βuβ/).
mike said,
February 18, 2017 @ 3:18 pm
At the risk of getting into the (nsfw) weeds here, there is also a video by this model, which, um, adapts the odd and viral Pen Pineapple Apple Pen song as Pen Oppai Oppai Pen, i.e., POOP:
https://youtu.be/feQz1g9hTkk
David Morris said,
February 18, 2017 @ 5:19 pm
The link mike provided is no longer active, but that video (or similar) can be found by searching for 'Pen Oppai Oppai Pen'. I think this magazine cover is referring to this adaptation of the song.
Apropos of not much: when I was teaching in Korea, each chapter of the textbook had a list of words which students had to put into sentences, either spoken or written. For 'predator', one student said ‘My /pu:p/ was eaten by a predator’. I think she meant ‘/pʌp/’.
Duncan said,
February 18, 2017 @ 5:27 pm
@ Mike, Malcolm, and OP/Nathan
"This video is no longer available because the youtube account associated with this video has been terminated. Sorry about that."
Copyright violation?
Here's the associated "pen oppai oppai pen" youtube search link, tho, with a number of hits, including one with the English translation in parentheses: "(Peen Cleavage Cleavage Pen". (I'm drawing a blank for the usual word indicating (typo) "in the original".)
"Cleavage" a more nuance-correct translation than "boobs"? Tho "boobs" has the advantage of word shape mimicking the anatomical feature, as does "poop".
Meanwhile, this /does/ provide a bit of cultural context for a video or two I had come across on youtube related links, from (IIRC) otherwise family-fare PPAP and similar songs. As an English-only speaker (save for a few words of various other languages, none Asian, I've learned) I hadn't grasped the connection, before, but it's rather clear now. =:^)
David Morris said,
February 18, 2017 @ 8:16 pm
My understanding is that cleavage is the separation between the breasts, so having two of them would be rather awkward.
GH said,
February 19, 2017 @ 5:59 am
@ Duncan:
[sic]
Duncan said,
February 19, 2017 @ 8:45 am
@ GH:
Thanks. I could visualize three letters starting with "s" inside the square brackets, but the closest I was coming was "[sur]" (i or u), and I knew /that/ wasn't it! Which of course made me unsure of the visualization, so I didn't mention that above, tho I was still sure it was short, but not sure about the "s".
But I just thought (now!) to google for "word meaning mistake in the original" (without the quotes), and sure enough, while "mistake" came up #1, "Sic" was #4, reference to wikipedia. I thought of trying to look it up, but thought I was in the (now semi-dated) bind of how do you look it up when you can't remember the word. Search engines are good enough these days tho, that I really should have known to at least try, but I've had them fail, too.
(There's a song playing on the Muzak at work that has a chorus I've mondegreened as "I will not be Drano" (repeated several times). I'd love to see the real lyrics as the song really bothers me with that nonsense, but I can't look it up without them, and disappointingly, googling didn't give me a "did you mean…?" as I hoped it would. Female singer. Maybe I'll be two for two and someone here will know that one too. =:^)
Other Mike said,
February 19, 2017 @ 12:14 pm
@Duncan
Getting off topic but perhaps you or a co-worker could identify the song with a smartphone app like Shazam or Soundhound. I'm curious what the Drano song might be!
Michael Watts said,
February 19, 2017 @ 3:47 pm
It might be worth observing that "poop" is one of the least likely words for a foreigner to know, because people who are trying not to be vulgar will avoid talking about it at all, and people who are trying to be vulgar will use "shit".
In my experience, chinese people know the word "shit" but not "poop". I once contributed to the problem myself when somebody specifically asked me for the polite english word and I chose to follow a different conversational thread.
Grunschev said,
February 20, 2017 @ 11:54 am
How about some variation of "poop deck", the aft part of the superstructure of a ship?
Andreas Johansson said,
February 21, 2017 @ 1:11 am
@Grunschev:
I dunno, but it may amuse someone to learn that where I'm from, akterkastell "aftercastle" is a slang term for someone's bottom, especially a large woman's.