Do you fancy Japanese slang words and want to learn something very “deep“? Then it’s time to learn Japanese old, classic slang words and phrases (i.e. 死語, “dead words”)! Well, probably you might question the necessity of learning *old-fashioned* expressions, but I’m telling you that it’s always a lot of fun to learn the history of a language and see how its trend has changed over the decades! In addition, some of the expressions are still used on purpose by some people to make jokes or act as stereotypical aged/old-fashioned people, especially on social media such as Twitter.
First, I start with slang expressions with 逆さ読み (reading words in reverse order; back slang), which represent the “bubbly” and auspicious era in the late 1980s, when Japan’s over-inflated bubble economy reached its pinnacle.
Caveat
* I don’t want to scare you away, but this post is definitely one of the most outlandish articles on this website, so be careful about when and where to use these expressions below (e.g. you probably don’t wanna use them in a job interview, or when you meet someone for the first time)!
Table of Contents
“Back Slang” in Japanese
In the late 1980s, it was once a big trend among the people working in the TV industry to create their jargon by reading words in (partially) reverse order. Eventually, these “back slang words” spread to ordinary people after some celebrities (esp. a comedy duo とんねるず) had started to use them on TV shows. Although most of them are now quite old-fashioned, some people still use them as jokes or humorous expressions.
Here is the list of famous “back slang” words and phrases; see more details at my previous post “ザギンでシースー: 12 Japanese “Reverse” Slang Words From 1980s”
(All of the words are written in katakana here, but hiragana is also fine.)
ザギン
Meaning: 銀座 (ぎんざ), “Ginza”
ギロッポン
Meaning: 六本木 (ろっぽんぎ, “Roppongi”)
シース
Meaning: 寿司 (すし), “sushi”
“ギロッポン/ザギンでシース”
Meaning “to eat sushi in Roppongi/Ginza”; one of the most famous “back slang” phrases. Roppongi and Ginza are one of the most lucrative cities in Japan, and some people (esp. those in the TV industry) presumably employed these expressions to make their dinner plan sound more special and prestigious.
パイオツ
Meaning: おっぱい, “tit”
カイデー
Meaning: でかい, “big”.
チャンネー
Meaning: “ねーちゃん” (“older sister/girl/chick”)
パイオツ カイデーな チャンネー
Meaning: “a chick with big tits”; one of the most famous back slang phrases.
メンゴ
Meaning: ごめん “sorry”; it is often used as “メンゴメンゴ”, meaning “Soz soz” to apologise in a very casual way.
クリソツ
Meaning “そっくり” (“very alike/exactly look like ~”)
シャレオツ
Meaning お洒落 (おしゃれ) (“fashionable”); this word is less outdated than the others, and is still used among some young people sometimes.
しもしも
Meaning もしもし (“Hello?”: an expression Japanese people use when they answer the phone.)
Expressions With a Pun
This section introduces old-fashioned expressions that make a pun in themselves. These are very practical expressions to use when you want to deliberately sound very lame or old-fashioned.
ワケワカメ
ワケワカメ is a joking way of saying 訳がわからない meaning “I don’t understand at all”. ワカメ (wakame) is a type of edible seaweed popular in Japan, and it is used as a substitute for “わからない” in this phrase.
アイムソーリー ヒゲソーリー
アイムソーリーヒゲソーリー is an old-fashioned famous pun in Japanese. The first part “アイムソーリー” means “I’m sorry” and the second part “ヒゲソーリー” means “ひげ剃り”, i.e. “a razor”. Some people also add the name of the Prime Minister (総理, そうり) afterwards to make another pun with ソーリー, e.g. “アイムソーリー ヒゲソーリー安倍ソーリー”.
許してちょんまげ
許してちょんまげ is a very non-serious way of saying “許してちょうだい” meaning “Please forgive me”. ちょんまげ means a top-knot hairstyle of samurai, and it is used as a substitute for “ちょうだい” meaning “please” in this phrase.
当たり前だのクラッカー
当たり前だのクラッカー is a joking way of saying “当たり前だ” meaning “of course” or “(something is) very obvious”. The latter part “のクラッカー” is added to make a pun with the name of the traditional Japanese snack “前田のクラッカー (Maeda’s cracker)”. This phrase gained its popularity after it was used in the TV commercials of the product in 1960s.
エッチスケッチワンタッチ
This rhyming phrase consists of three words “エッチ” (“sexually naughty”), スケッチ (“sketch”) and ワンタッチ (“one-touch”). It doesn’t quite have a specific meaning or usage, but is something that we have said or heard somewhere in our childhood (in the 1990s).
そんなバナナ
そんなバナナ is a jocular way of saying “そんなバカな” meaning “No way!” or “That can’t be true”. As you see, バナナ (“banana”) is used as a substitute for “バカな” in this phrase.
冗談はよしこちゃん
冗談はよしこちゃん is a joking way of saying “冗談はよして”, meaning “please stop kidding”. よしこちゃん is “Yoshiko-chan”, i.e. the girl’s name “Yoshiko” with the Japanese honorific “chan” attached.
余裕のよっちゃん
余裕のよっちゃんmeans “easy-peasy/a piece of cake”, where 余裕 means “very easy” and よっちゃん is a common nickname for someone whose name starts from よ, e.g. よしこ (, which means nothing here, like “peasy” in “easy-peasy”.)
Combination of Two words
This section introduces old slang words that are coined by combining two different words.
飲みにケーション
飲みにケーション means “communication through drinking together”. It combines two words “飲む” (“drink”) and コミニケーション (“communication”). Some (old-fashioned) people insist that 飲みにケーシloanョン be indispensable to build a “real” relationship (and that explains why many Japanese people go for drinks with their boss and colleagues after work, and sleep like a log on the train home.)
バイナラ
バイナラ means “bye-bye/see you”. It combines two words “バイバイ” (bye-bye) and “さよなら” (“sayonara”).
ダイジョウV
ダイジョウV is a joking way of saying “大丈夫 (だいじょうぶ)” meaning “I’m fine/no problem”. It combines “大丈夫” with ブイ (“V”), which adds a casual (and nowadays lame) vibe to the word.
すいま千円/すいませんべい
すいま千円/すいませんべい is a joking way of saying “すいません” meaning “I’m sorry”. It combines すいません with 千円 (1000 yen) or せんべい (Japanese rice crackers) for no reason.
いただきマンモス
いただきマンモス is a joking way of saying “いただきます”, an expression to show your gratitude for food before you eat it. It combines いただきます with マンモス “mammoth” for no reason.
Loanwords (mainly from English)
This section introduces old-fashioned slang words based on foreign languages (mainly English).
チョベリバ, チョベリグ
チョベリバ and チョベリグ are slang terms that used to be popular among female teenagers in the late 1990s (Nowadays, these words are often used to mock these people back then.) The words stand for “超ベリーバッド” and “超ベリーグッド” resp., where 超 means “extremely/super” and ベリーバッド/ベリーグッド are clearly loaned from “very bad/good” in English. Therefore, it means “super very bad/good” (quite redundant indeed, but sort of mitigated by the abbreviated form).
OK牧場
OK牧場 means “OK/no problem”, which used to be frequently said by a former boxing world champion ガッツ石松 (いしまつ). Usually, “牧場” means “a farm”, but it means nothing in this phrase (like “Dokey” in “Okey-Dokey”).
アベック
アベック is a very old-fashioned word meaning “a couple”. It is loaned from the French word “avec”, meaning “with” (as in, a couple always does things with each other).
おニュー
おニュー means “brand new”, where ニュー is loaned from “new” in English and “お” is an honorific prefix. In the Kansai area, its synonym (in terms of the meaning, vibe and obsolescence) is “さらぴん“, which emphasises the more standard Kansai dialect word “さら”, meaning “new”.
ナウい
ナウい means “new/trendy/fashionable” and comes from the English term “now”. However, this word itself does not sound new anymore (although it is still well recognised as one of the outdated slang terms; so technically it’s still alive).
タンマ
タンマ means “hold on/one moment”, which is loaned from “time” in English. Usually, it is used as “ちょっとタンマ” (“hold on a bit”), where ちょっと means “a bit”.
トゥギャザーしようぜ
トゥギャザーしようぜ means “Let’s do (something) together”, and is coined by a Japanese comedian ルー大柴, whose comedy style is to make jokes by combining Japanese and English words (as in this phrase).
ヤング
ヤング means “young people”, and it is often used as “ナウなヤング” or “ナウいヤング” meaning “fashionable/trendy young people”
アウトオブ眼中
アウトオブ眼中 is an old-fashioned way of saying “眼中にない, which literally means “not in my eyes” and figuratively means “I don’t care at all/don’t give a sh*t”. It combines the English phrase “out of ~” and the Japanese word “眼中” meaning “in one’s eyes”.
グー/バッチグー
グー and バッチグー mean “good” and “very good”, respectively. Here, グー is short for グッド, and バッチ is short for ばっちり, meaning “perfect(ly)”.
Others
３K, ３高
３K and３高, meaning “three high”, stand for “高学歴、高身長、高収入“, which literally means “high education background, high height, and high salary”. This word used to be popular among girls to describe their ideal men who are highly educated (e.g. go to a prestigious university), very tall (e.g. over 180 cm), and have a high-salary job. Although this word has become obsolete per se, the popularity of such men has never ever faded away, of course. In fact, young people nowadays use another term, “ハイスペック” (“high-spec”) or “ハイスペ” in short, to describe those attractive men in a less explicit manner. However, compared to ３K or ３高, ハイスペック is more gender-neutral and used by both men and women to describe people who have impressive skills and careers in general.
ガーン, がびーん
ガーン and がびーん are both exclamations which you say when you are disappointed/shocked in a bad way (e.g. when you know you’ve failed an exam). It is still used sometimes in manga or anime (e.g. ちびまる子ちゃん), but rarely heard in real life anymore.
ヨロピク
ヨロピク is a joking way of saying “よろしく”, a very common Japanese greeting which you use when they ask someone to do something, or when you show your willingness to build a good relationship with someone.
かわい子ちゃん
かわい子ちゃん means “cute girls/cuties”. Here, かわい子 is short for “かわいい子 (cute girl)”, and ちゃん is a Japanese honorific used for children and girls.
ドロンする
ドロンする is a very old-fashioned word that means “go home/leave/disappear”. It used to be frequently said in the expression, “お先にドロンします“, meaning “Excuse me, I’m leaving now (earlier than you)”.
イケイケ
イケイケ means “energetic/lively/active” or “cool/cute/hot”. It can describe both things and people, as in “イケイケな時代” (lively/positive era) and “イケイケな人” (energetic, active, cool person).
花金
花金 means “Happy Friday” or “TGIF” and is often used when people go for a drink on Friday after work. Although it is usually regarded as an outdated word, some people still use it since there is no other term to describe the joy of drinking on Friday night. For instance, you can say “今日は花金だし、飲もう” meaning “Since today’s 花金, let’s drink!”.
インド人もびっくり
インド人もびっくり literally means “Indian people are also surprised”. This expression became popular in the 1960s once it was used in the TV commercials of Japanese curry roux to hype it as “Even Indian people are amazed by the taste”. Therefore, as a parody, you can use this phrase to describe something nice, or simply to show your amazement at something.
モチのロン
モチのロン is a humorous, old-fashioned and redundant way of saying もちろん, meaning “of course”. Here, neither モチ nor ロン does not have any meaning.
うれぴー
うれぴー is a casual way of saying “嬉しい (happy)”. When you are super happy, you can say マンモスうれぴー, where マンモス (“mammoth”) is figuratively used to describe the humungous amount of happiness. These phrases were coined by a famous actress 酒井法子 (Noriko Sakai), a.k.a. のりぴー in late 1980. Although she was arrested in 2009 on drug charges, she has returned to the media committee after a long period of suspension.
マブダチ
マブダチ means “real friend” or “best friend”, where ダチ is short for 友達 (friend).
社会の窓
社会の窓 literally means “the window of the society”, but actually refers to “the fly of trousers”. It is used as “社会の窓が開いてますよ” (“The window of the society is open”) when you tell someone (esp. men) in a humorous way that their fly is open.
A Funny Song about Outdated Slang Words
“ナウなヤングにバカウケするのは当たり前だのクラッ歌“
To help you remember those classic Japanese slang words, I introduce a very unique Japanese song called “ナウなヤングにバカウケするのは当たり前だのクラッ歌“, wrote and sung by the popular Japanese singer-songwriter あいみょん (Aimyon). This song features a variety of Japanese old-fashioned expressions, most of which are covered in this article. First of all, as you see, the title already contains four old slang words: ナウな (trendy/new), ヤング (young people), バカウケ (very funny), 当たり前だのクラッ歌 (a modified version of “当たり前田のクラッカー”; 歌 means “song”).
Here is the link to the YouTube video:
(And you can check the whole lyric here or here.)
If you like this song, there are a great number of beautiful songs made and sung by あいみょん; I’d like to conclude this article by sharing some of my favourite songs of hers with the links to her official YouTube videos!
マリーゴールド
This is the most popular song of hers in terms of the number of views on YouTube (more than 200 Million views). This is quite a nice song to listen to, especially in summer!
ハルノヒ
君はロックを聴かない
What a cracking post and a fantastic website. As we say in London slang – Nice one geez!