SHARING MANA‘O
Chatty Cathy. Bookworm. Word nerd. Yakamashii. Whichever.
What do those words have in common? All have been used — often! — to describe me, and they all stem from my love of words.
The first three are self-explanatory. I did have a Chatty Cathy doll when I was 4. Even after I accidentally broke her pull-string, rendering her speechless, she was my constant companion. I thought that was why people nicknamed me after her, but I was mistaken.
I was also wrong about the meaning of the Japanese word “yakamashii.” Like many local kids, I thought it meant “Shut up!” The actual translation is “noisy” or “loud.” In my preschool days, I heard it often enough to think it was another of my nicknames. My mother enjoys reminding me of the time we brought my grandfather from my aunt’s home to ours. Riding
with me in the back seat of our family car, my grandfather asked, in Japanese, “Does this child ever stop talking?”
I’ll save the last word, “whichever,” for the last word. First, while we’re on the subject of Japanese terms, I’d like to share something I learned recently through my subscription to Dictionary.com. Besides the Word of the Day and weekly quizzes, the service also emails interesting articles on word origins, such as last week’s feature, “12 Japanese Loanwords That Rode the Wave into English.”
The subject line read “What do Emoji, Karaoke and Tofu all have in common?” Naturally, being of Japanese ancestry, I smiled — smirked, actually — and confidently clicked the link. Sure enough, the article included “tsunami,” “futon” and “dojo” (but not “kimono”). It also contained several surprises.
The word “tycoon” is an English variation of “taikun,” which was used to refer to the shogun when he was introduced to foreign dignitaries. Commodore Matthew Perry is credited with bringing the word to America in 1854, after initiating a trade deal between Japan and the U.S.
Similarly, the term “honcho,” as in “head honcho,” was adopted by Americans who heard the word used by the Japanese. According to the website, the English usage goes back to World War II, when American soldiers, especially prisoners of war, heard Japanese soldiers referring to their squad leaders as “hancho.” I had always assumed it came from Hollywood movie cowboys mispronouncing Spanish.
I laughed aloud when I read about the origin of “skosh,” meaning a small amount. In the early days of my first marriage, my husband asked for “a skosh more sugar” in his coffee. Surprised by his use of the informal pronunciation of the Japanese “sukoshi,” I asked where he learned it. He replied that his mother used the word often, and that it was, like his family, of German origin. Turns out he was wrong; “skosh,” like “honcho,” was brought home by American soldiers, this time during the Korean War.
“Whichever” was a seventh grade nickname I despised. It was conferred upon me after the Hawaii State Spelling Bee, which was a big deal, televised live, back in those days. In the third round, when the difficulty level began to climb, I was relieved to get such an easy, everyday word. I saw it in my mind’s eye, spelled correctly, but my careless mouth moved ahead of my brain, and I blurted out “wi-c-h-e-v-e-r.” As I tearfully told my coach, Miss (Lori) Gomez, the letters just tumbled from my tongue; I didn’t even realize I’d left out the “h” until I heard the ding of the bell dismissing me from the stage.
The following Monday, my classmates and even a few teachers started calling me “Whichever.” The nickname stuck throughout the rest of the school year and into the next, until I redeemed myself by winning the Maui County Bee again and placing second in the state contest (this time, my downfall word was “impecunious”). To this day, “whichever” is my least favorite word. I still cringe involuntarily when I hear it spoken. But just a skosh.
■ Kathy Collins is a radio personality (The Buzz 107.5 FM and KEWE 97.9 FM/1240 AM), storyteller, actress, emcee and freelance writer whose “Sharing Mana‘o” column appears every other Wednesday. Her e-mail address is kcmaui913@gmail.com.