Line #22 UsefulNotes/Baka


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4	Japanese word for "idiot", "stupid", "moron", "imbecile", "dumbass", or any other similar term; also frequently translated as "{{jerk\|ass}}." This is an all-purpose profanity applied to persons who have done anything stupid, insensitive or thoughtless. Usually seen in the idiomatic phrase ''"Anta baka?!"'', which is a favorite CharacterCatchphrase of {{Tsundere}}s.
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6	Occasionally used as an insulting [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics honorific]]: ''Kono-baka''. [[labelnote:Translation]]"This idiot" or "You idiot".[[/labelnote]]
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8	Also employed as an endearment between couples, but the delivery differs -- when used affectionately, the word is drawn out instead of spat sharply. Being called ''"baka"'' by a new boyfriend/girlfriend while receiving a playful smack on the top of the head is considered a comforting sign of how well things are going.
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10	Written with kanji characters (馬鹿), it reads as "horse-deer", which puzzles everybody, Japanese or not. [[note]] This can lead to humor if you've read or heard of ''[[Fanfic/SOSchip The Giggling Horseshoe]]'' and realize that the words "michi" and "misa" are ''also'' read "horse-deer." Whether the deer is Samson or Chita depends on direction. [[/note]] (Folk etymologies trace this to someone who can't tell the two apart, or possibly to a test to [[OpinionFlipflop find yes-men]].) The Chinese have [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Gao#Calling_a_deer_a_horse the legend]] of an Emperor's advisor testing his power by 'showing a horse and calling it a deer'. The kanji are actually ''ateji'', which means they are there solely for phonetic reasons and not meant to be translated literally. In some legends there's actually a {{youkai}} called "Mumashika" but written with the same Kanji as "Baka", which can possess people and make them stupid. According to the most-accepted theory, ''baka'' is an ancient loanword from Sanskrit, specifically, the word ''moha'' (मोह). It means either "error" or "distraction" and was originally part of Buddhist slang used by monks among themselves. Although long ago nativized into Japanese, the word is often written in katakana for emphasis.
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12	The word, amusingly, [[InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike also happens to sound identical to ''vaca/baka'', the Spanish and Tagalog words for "cow"]]. This ''faux ami'' between the different languages often leads to a lot of bilingual jokes between Japanese speakers, Hispanics and Filipinos.
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14	"Baka" is a staple of FangirlJapanese. More and more, along with various honorifics, it appears [[GratuitousJapanese untranslated in English language manga]]. "Baka" had previously made its way into English in the 1940s as the US Army's [[ReportingNames codename]] for UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan's Yokosuka MXY-7 Oka, the legendary [[SuicideAttack kamikaze flying bomb]].
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16	This word can sometimes take various forms:
17	* baka "Baka"
18	* baka yarou "Stupid Asshole"
19	* oo-baka "Great Baka"
20	* oo-baka yarou "Dumbass"
21	* origami-tsuki no baka "Acknowledged (i.e. Got A Degree In) Baka"
22	* shoushin shoumei no baka "Down-right baka"
23	* sokonuke no baka "Bottomless (i.e. Down And Out) Baka"
24	* akireta baka "Hopeless Baka"
25	* kamaboko-baka "Fish Cake Baka"
26	* tanjun-baka "Simple Baka"
27	* usura-baka "Dumb Baka"
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29	Occasionally, the word ''aho'' (阿呆, "Foolish") is used instead, especially by Kansai dialect speakers. This is because ''baka'' is a much stronger insult in Kansai, only used when you ''really'' want to [[TheIdiotFromOsaka denigrate your target]], while ''aho'' has much the same childish connotation in Kansai as ''baka'' does in other areas.
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31	This is a definition-only entry. No examples needed.
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Context UsefulNotes / Baka