This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
I somewhere read something about another "honorific", -suke. I can't speak Japanese, but it seems to be very informal. Does anybody know more?
WonSab: -suke seems to be a generic nickname-end like -ko, given that it's a common ending to a lot of actual names. (e.g. Kosuke, Yusuke, Dekosuke, etc.)
Keru: There seem to be two types of honorifics being described in the entry. The first is of the -san, -kun type, which need to be applied with a name. The second is of the -sensei, -bozu, -sempai type, and can be applied as a stand-alone word. I'm not saying the second type aren't honorifics... rather, that they have usages beyond that.
On a related note, the 'cutesy' type honorifics, like -pyon, can be created out of anything that sounds cute, as far as I can tell. I've also happened across -pi, -rin, -ti, and several others. This, of course, is all as opposed to things like -han, which is the kansai-ben (a dialect used in areas west of Tokyo) version of -san.
Adonic Meki: Sounds like it's worth dividing the list into two parts, one for each type, with a note at the beginning of each regarding "needs to be used with a name" or "can be used alone or with a name".
Susan Davis: I moved the discussion of polite verb forms to Keigo.
Air Of Mystery: It mentions 'oujou' and 'hime' as meaning 'princess', but is there an equivalent for calling someone 'princess' sarcastically? Such as, "Look, princess..." Also, if a boy calls his crush <Crush's Name>-chan, and they're not together, is he just being annoying or is this a deadly insult?
Big T: I'm not an expert on Japanese in any sense of the word, but from the anime I've watched, that particular use of -chan is an insult, but closer to calling someone a baby than anything. And the equivalent of calling someone "princess" sarcastically is pretty much the point of using any of the honorifics sarcastically. The higher the honorific (relative to your own social station), the more insulting it is.
Radical Taoist: Added -oyabin to the list and a few examples. Would someone who knows more Japanese than I double check what I added?
Awakenedgirl: What about gozen which means lady in Japanese?
Freezair For A Limited Time: If you were a man, going to go through an Honorific Switch with a girl to signify that you're now good friends, but aren't necessarily romantically involved, what would you switch to, if anything?
OK, I'm probably being confusing here. Let me give an example. Circumstances have contrived to bind "Ichigo" and "Hinata" together, as they're Chosen Ones. Ichigo respects Hinata, and doesn't mind having to work with her, but they're not really friendly. He refers to her as "Hinata-san" and she does likewise. However, they have many experiences saving the world together, and they become nakama. However, their feelings for one another aren't really romantic—they're Like Brother and Sister. I get that Hinata would probably switch from "Ichigo-san" to "Ichigo-kun," as that's familiar. But would Ichigo switch to "Hinata-chan?" The impression that I get is that "-chan" is a bit too cutesy, but calling her "Hinata-kun" would mostly be something a Bokukko would do.
I'm sort of trying to figure out what the Japanese equivalent of calling someone "Mr." or "Miss X" ("Mister James," "Miss Leslie") to a plain old First-Name Basis ("James" or even "Jim," "Leslie") would be.
WonSab: "Hinata-chan" would seem to be the correct honorific. I suspect that a nickname (e.g. "Hina-chan")or yobisute would be the logical next-step if a distinction were to be made. Research will be done to confirm this.
WonSab: Should we bother with -ra at all? (seems to be a more casual version of -tachi)
gumby_jd: Watching Dragon Ball Z right now. I've been noticing that Chi-Chi has consistantly been referring to him as 'Goku-sa' (*not* -san). Anyone know what the -sa honorific is, exactly? I can't seem to find any reference to it (not that good of a searcher, however), but I've been assuming that it's just an endearment, but...
