This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Khym Chanur: I've seen some series where a prepubescent girl will refer to a teenage girl as "oba-san", either to piss of the teenage girl or because the prepubescent one genuinely considers teenagers to be over-the-hill. Does this also happen in non-Japanese mediums, and I'm just not widely enough read to have come across them, or is it something specific to Japan?
Ununnilium: Well, the problem is that there's no one word in English that carries the same connotations as "oba-san"; calling someone "auntie" or "Aunt X" would just be weird. Calling someone "Ma'am" is probably the closest thing, but that's generally middle age fearing old age, not young adults fearing middle age. (link added by Morgan Wick)
Cambdoranononononono: I'm removing most of the extra Love Hina stuff because it seems to be heading toward Natter. Also, you can't really count fanon as a 'justification'.
- It's still not clear why calls her "Aunt", or why he persists in doing so despite the painful reminders that she doesn't appreciate the appellation...
- Keitarou has repeatedly demonstrated a flat learning curve over the course of Love Hina. In a house full of violent women he never learned to knock on a door before opening it either.
- Fanon has it that when they were children, Haruka insisted Keitaro call her aunt (perhaps to establish authority over him) and enforced it with violence when he didn't call her aunt. So it's really her own fault.
