No31 [Language] Omoshiroi yo NIHONGO!

Welcome once again, to the fascinating world of the Japanese language.
In everyday life, Japanese love to abbreviate words and phrases. However some of these words fade away as time goes by.

This month’s Japanese phrases.

 

花金 “hanakin”

During the 1980’s the word 花金 “hanakin” was popular and used by many. A few young people think it is cool to bring back old words like this and use them on twitter, but usually this word is used by the older generation. The first part, 花 “hana” means flower and is also part of the adjective 花やか “hanayaka”, meaning brilliant or lively, to express happiness and excitement. The second part, 金 “kin” is a shortened version of 金曜日 “kinyōbi” (Friday).   花金 “Hanakin” is to rejoice because it is Friday and you can do what you like because the next day is not a working day. It was basically the Japanese version of the abbreviation TGIF “Thanks God it’s Friday”.

 

ハシゴする “hashigo suru”

This word is also used by the older generation, sometimes to make the youngsters laugh. ハシゴ “Hashigo” translated literally means ladder. However, when you add する “suru” to make it a verb,  it means to go from one pub to another to drink, in other words, a pub crawl! There are also variations like.  ハシゴ酒 “hashigozake” (酒”zake” being the same word as “sake”) and ハシゴ飲み “hashigonomi” (飲み “nomi” is for drinking).

 

Example sentences:

♥「今日は花金だ。朝まで遊ぼうよ。」
(Kyō wa hanakin da! Asa made asobō yo.)
Today is Friday. Let’s party until morning.

♦「今日は、もっと飲みたいな。もう1軒ハシゴしようぜ。」
(Kyō wa motto nomitai na. Mou ikken hashigo shiyō ze.)
I want to drink more today. Let’s hit another bar.