No34 [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, this can be confusing at times.

 

This month’s Japanese phrases.

 

TBS（ティービーエス）

These letters stand for the sentence テンションバリ下がる “Tenshon bari sagaru”,  which literally means “the mood dropped right down”. It expresses the feeling when you suddenly become very down or sad, or when a good mood suddenly evaporates. This abbreviation is most often used on Internet sites like Twitter, Facebook or other SNS as well as e-mails or text messages.

UFO（ユーエフオー）

When you hear this word you might think of alien spacecraft and while it can mean the same in Japanese, it also has another meaning. This one also stands in for a full expression, namely うまくフェードアウト “Umaku fade out”. うまく “umaku” means “skilfully”, so if we put it together you get “skillfully fade out”. Imagine you are with friends or at a party but you would like to go home or be somewhere and you don’t want to let the others know, so you masterfully slip away without anyone noticing. You figuratively “faded out” of the group unnoticed.

 

Example sentences:

♥「彼女にデートドタキャンされてTBS。」
(Kanojo ni deeto dotakyansarete TBS.)
“My girlfriend cancelled our date at the last minute so I am really down”.

♦「昨日のパーティーUFOできて良かった。」
(Kinou no paatii UFO dekite yokatta.)
“I am glad I could slip away from the party out”.