Profanity in J-pop?

[drewbilation]

It seems (to me atleast (in my limited knowledge of Japanese)) that most J-pop songs have very tame lyrics in terms of profanity. In fact, there are only a few songs that I've recognized profanity at all: Crystal Kay's new single, 'Bye My Darling!' has 'namecha ikemasen,' which I've read means 'don't f-ck with me' and Heartsdales seems to use American profanity ('damn,' 'ass,' etc) a lot in their raps...

But other than that, I haven't noticed much (if any) profanity in the majority of J-pop music, which I find odd since the Japanese seem to view profanity as less of a 'taboo' than Americans.

Any thoughts?

[BanFan]

There's not really much that I know of...

Check the lyrics to DAI's Summer Days though! XD

[Calico]

That's something I've noticed a lot as well, especially since my mom constantly asks me that. XD; Pretty much the only profanity I've ever heard from Japanese people in music has been English profanity. (Case in point? SUMMER DAYS =D) Then again I don't know that much Japanese profanity, so maybe I'm missing things at time. But I don't think that it's the end of my world, heh.

[~K+]

Well, just because it's less of a taboo doesn't make it a necessity to be rude in songs.

But umm, go check out some songs by those visual artists, and Gackt's 'Vanilla'.

[drewbilation]

Originally Posted by ~K+

Well, just because it's less of a taboo doesn't make it a necessity to be rude in songs.

True, but the Japanese seem fond of the word 'baka,' and being call an idiot, in my opinion, is far ruder than most curse words... which a lot of times aen't directed at one specific person like being called a baka is.

Well, does ayumi ever say cuss words?

In Stadium Tour, I know she says "work your ass"
but thats the only thing ive heard.

[~K+]

Well, Baka probably doesn't have the same negative conotation to it like English does because some words can't be interpretted perfectly in English.

Well, say for example, Chinese is closer to Japanese than English, and Baka is always translated to a less rude way of saying idiot and sometimes in a half-joking way instead of the more extreme one. *Adds smilie face* Languages are a weird thing.

[PrismaticTears]

Check out "I've," one of the songs with Miki is called, "**** Me." pretty self-explanatory, I lost count of how many times that was said in that single track.

[paper_doll]

I think Jrock makes up for a lot of it ^^;

[extepan]

Originally Posted by Zesty

Well, does ayumi ever say cuss words?

In Stadium Tour, I know she says "work your ass"
but thats the only thing ive heard.

how to say that in japanese????

[Linzy]

Profanity doesn't really exist in Japanese. Although some words may be translated into English as "b*tch" or "s hit" or whatever, they don't really have the "shock factor" in Japanese. They can be said on daytime TV, in music on radios, whatever. Swear words don't really exist in Japanese.

[matt]

I think Ayu actually says 'Raise your hands'

Anyway... I was just thinking... whenever Japanese people who are learning English do a homestay or study abroad to Australia, America or whatever, they always ask to learn the 'bad' words, or we always offer to teach them. I could rattle off dozens in seconds. Individual words and phrases. However, when the situation is reversed and I ask my Japanese friends to teach me bad words, they're stumped as to what to teach me.

Swear words in English are in such common use, without always having a rude meaning. 'That's so f-ing cheap!' for example. We tend to use words like that as if they are toilet paper. Bad words in Japanese (and they tend to be more of a phrase than a single word) are used rarely and in extree cases.

Perhaps that is why.

[Brittany]

There's not that much profanity in Japanese songs.. but it seems tasteful because it's in a different language

Even my penpal told me that there is not a lot of swearing in Japanese R&B and HIPHOP..

Originally Posted by matt

I think Ayu actually says 'Raise your hands'

That's what she says ..

When I first heard her say that I could have sworn it was "Crap your pants" o.O

[Brittany]

Originally Posted by //hikari

That's what she says ..

When I first heard her say that I could have sworn it was "Crap your pants" o.O

[FancySN]

Originally Posted by //hikari

That's what she says ..

When I first heard her say that I could have sworn it was "Crap your pants" o.O

You are officially the funniest person on AHS......

[Larisa-chan]

LOL work your ass? crap your pants? hahahaha

I heard that BUCK-TICK uses a lot of swear words in their songs.. but I could be totally wrong heh. I've heard Sex Machineguns use some unpleasant words too. Anyone know?

As for Japanese, I watched this weirdest anime called Ebichu where they were spouting off words that were translated into English swear words. There was also a word used by a character that offended this old lady o.o;; ::rambles::

[PrismaticTears]

In Koda Kumi's Shake It PV during that little intermission, "Shake your ass" was used as well (said in english though).

Ebichu is supposed to be an ecchi anime, I only saw a whole 3 seconds of that and the fact became clear to me. Needless to say yes they use lots of coarse language.

[Ibitsu Kokoro]

Um...baka I think is more popular with those scary anime obsessives (you know who you are) ... at my school every sentence they say has the word "baka" in it somehow. That's why I tend NOT to use that word. Although k+, I've seen a lot in anime where baka is used as a really "idiot!" idiot in the full english sense of the word and not jokingly. Also, it is immature to think that a language is free of real profanity Linzy. It doesn't matter if profanity is used on japanese television, profanity is also used on american television, is it not?

[Linzy]

Originally Posted by Ayuspeed

Um...baka I think is more popular with those scary anime obsessives (you know who you are) ... at my school every sentence they say has the word "baka" in it somehow. That's why I tend NOT to use that word. Although k+, I've seen a lot in anime where baka is used as a really "idiot!" idiot in the full english sense of the word and not jokingly. Also, it is immature to think that a language is free of real profanity Linzy. It doesn't matter if profanity is used on japanese television, profanity is also used on american television, is it not?

You won't even hear "****" or "****" on daytime or primetime TV.

How is it immature of me to think that Japanese has no real profanity? I speak Japanese. How is it immature to state a fact?

Yes, there are rude words in Japanese, but there are no words in the Japanese language that are "bad" to the extent that words like "****" and "****" are in English. These are words that are bleeped out on TV and radio. Words like this don't exist in Japanese.