Are you OK?
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Zhaofei Chen recently came across a Japanese bath bucket (湯桶 yuoke) with a big “あ” carved inside. She says that it’s literally called “あゆおけ (ayuoke),” which sounds just like “Are you OK?”, a perfect mix of Japanese and English.
Etymology
/juwoke/ → /juoke/
From Old Japanese. Compound of 湯 (yu, “warm or hot water”) + 桶 (oke, “a bucket or pail; a tub”), itself a compound of 麻 (o, “flax, ramie”) + 笥 (ke, “a container, especially for foodstuffs or tableware”).
Pronunciation
Ingenious!
Selected readings
- "Top Tier Taobao Trick or Treat T-shirt" (10/31/25)
- "Mysterious sign in Japanese and Russian" (3/27/16)
- "Katratripulr" (5/6/22)
- "New expressions for karaoke: the phoneticization of Chinese" (9/25/21)
- "I don't feel OK" (12/27/18) — I feel not OK
- "Justin Bieber OK infix" (2/13/18)
- "O.K. is rude" (11/27/19)
- "If they give me more is OK" (3/26/12)
- "Sure, I'll take a stab at it" (9/28/10)
- "Not OK." (2/20/11)
- "Keep on -inging" (10/30/17)
- " The MaxPlanckForschung Cover Fiasco: How It Happened" (1/3/09)
(VHM note: the last two items explain how "karaOK" works]
Lars said,
November 5, 2025 @ 12:04 pm
But does Annie have an ayuoke? (That's a reference to Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal, for those following along at home)
Chris Button said,
November 5, 2025 @ 5:12 pm
Haha. Maybe it has a bigger older-brother (兄) bath bucket:
兄あ湯桶, 兄あ湯桶, あ湯桶兄 …