Can 野郎{やろう} really have that many meanings?


_( **Warning** : potentially offensive words. Proceed at your own risk. Also,
apologies for the length.)_

I realize this risks opening up the "does Japanese actually have swear words"
debate, touched on
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2118/is-there-an-
equivalent-to-george-carlins-seven-dirty-words-in-japanese), and a little
[here too](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2080/are-there-words-
so-bad-that-they-arent-allowed-on-television).

After exploring the issue in those other questions, I'm content that there are
some words that are definitely always vulgar swear words in Japanese (no need
to repeat them here), and some words that are merely verbal jabs.

However, there is one word that is still hard to nail down: `野郎{やろう}`. It
seems to cover such a wide range that I just have a hard time accepting most
translations.

I was reminded of the topic when, walking through
[Ebisu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebisu,_Shibuya) today, I looked up and
noticed this sign for a [mahjong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahjong)
parlour:

![mahjon yarou](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1HbdX.jpg)

_(It's a little blurry, so just to be clear, the place is called_
`麻雀{マージャン}野郎{やろう}` _.)_

Let's say this store expanded to become an international mahjong chain of
stores, and they wanted an English version of their name. What would we
translate it to?

According to [Space
ALC](http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E9%87%8E%E9%83%8E/UTF-8/?ref=sa), `野郎{やろう}` means
_bloke_ , _dude_ , _fellow_ , and _son of a gun_. Very inoffensive.

But, in that same entry, it also means the mildly offensive _beggar_ ,
_bugger_ (some might think this is worse), and _hoser_.

On top of that, it _also_ means the definitely offensive _mofo_ , _asshole_ ,
and _son of a bitch_.

And, even further, it **_also_** means the inexplicable _cuss_ (isn't that a
verb?), _gazebo_ (isn't that a kind of patio?), _gazabo_ (what?), _gink_
(huh?), and _hooer_ (a what-er?).

Putting aside the bizarre words, we have a range that goes from _dude_ to
_asshole_. That's a hell of a wide range.

Clearly, the sign would lean toward the milder, so maybe we'd translate it as
"Mahjong Dude". But if that's true, then I have a hard time believing it could
mean the stronger terms. After all, this sign stands on it's own, so why _not_
translate it as "Mahjong Asshole"?

I get the fact that words in languages can have a wide range. "Aloha", in
Hawaiian, apparently means both hello and goodbye.

But part of the reason I have a hard time accepting the vagueness of this
particular potentially offensive word is that, as Japanese learners, we're
beaten over the head with the notion that the Japanese hold politeness in high
regard so that they are sensitive to the slightest mishaps. Not saying `さん`
after someone's name in a certain situation, or perhaps addressing someone
with `あなた`, would cause offense.

And yet at the same time, we can have a word that goes from dude to asshole
and everyone's cool with that?

"Aloha" might mean contrary things, but none of its meanings are potentially
offensive, so I can see why it wasn't forced into one particular meaning. But
I can't see how a word with high risk of insult survives in a culture that
otherwise seems quite rigid about how to avoid offense.

Something doesn't add up in this word, and I suspect it has to do with a great
deal of license on the part of most translations. Real offensiveness comes
from the words surrounding `野郎{やろう}`, not `野郎{やろう}` itself.

So... after all that preamble:

What would the most accurate translation of the sign be?

If my idea that the words around `野郎{やろう}` are what really manipulate it's
offensiveness level, then let's zero in on what exactly the naked word means
and what it, and it alone, conveys in offensiveness.

Or show me where and how everything I'm saying is just totally wrong and I'm
just being a `馬鹿{ばか}野郎{やろう}`.




Perhaps you are assuming that `野郎` has a wide variery of levels of politeness,
and that they are continuous, but they are not. Probably, 野郎 is not used in
isolation as an insult word. When it is an insult word, it is used in one of
the few fixed expressions like この野郎 and 馬鹿野郎.

Also, when used in isolation, a meaning of an insult word or a counterpart of
(American) English `guy` _can_ be conveyed with different accents. In the
insult usage, the accent is on the second mora ('yaROu'), whereas the guy-
usage does not have the accent nucleus, so it takes the default flat accent
(平板{へいばん}アクセント) 'yaROU'. This may indicate that they have actually become
different words.

I remember commenting on someone's question/answer previously that an
expression like `a guy and a girl` is discriminative and it should be replaced
with `a boy and a girl` because `guy` does not have the same polite level as
`girl`. Rather, it connotates some roughness, and using that kind of word only
for males is sexual discrimination. `野郎` is the Japanese counterpart to this
word. It connotates some roughness, and is used usually only for males. Often
`野郎` is used as opposed to `女の子`, which is as sexually discriminative as the
(American) English counterpart `a guy and a girl`, but many people do not seem
to care.

Since there are only two meanings, which meaning is intended should be clear
enough from the context. The insult usage does not have many variations:
`この野郎`, `馬鹿野郎`, and perhaps a few more.

The 'guy'-usage is pretty much productive; it works as an affix. A slight
departure of the meaning of `野郎` from that of `guy` may be that the former
also connotates some kind of nerdiness when used as an affix. `麻雀野郎` would
mean 'Mahjong guy', but it may also be close to something like 'Mahjong nerd'.
So the intention of using it as a shop name is to give the image of "a Mahjong
nerd's gathering place". There are common expressions like `トラック野郎` 'truck
guy', which means long distance truck drivers who spend most of their time on
a (often extremely decorated) truck.

There are other insult words that have come to mean something similar when
used as an affix. For example, `馬鹿` 'stupid', when used as an affix, means
'geek': `釣{つ}り馬鹿{ばか}` 'fishing geek'. The same applies for another word
`きちがい`, but use of this word should be avoided regardless of its usage because
of the reasons mentioned in [one of the links given in this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2080).




Perhaps you are assuming that `野郎` has a wide variery of levels of politeness,
and that they are continuous, but they are not. Probably, 野郎 is not used in
isolation as an insult word. When it is an insult word, it is used in one of
the few fixed expressions like この野郎 and 馬鹿野郎.

Also, when used in isolation, a meaning of an insult word or a counterpart of
(American) English `guy` _can_ be conveyed with different accents. In the
insult usage, the accent is on the second mora ('yaROu'), whereas the guy-
usage does not have the accent nucleus, so it takes the default flat accent
(平板{へいばん}アクセント) 'yaROU'. This may indicate that they have actually become
different words.

I remember commenting on someone's question/answer previously that an
expression like `a guy and a girl` is discriminative and it should be replaced
with `a boy and a girl` because `guy` does not have the same polite level as
`girl`. Rather, it connotates some roughness, and using that kind of word only
for males is sexual discrimination. `野郎` is the Japanese counterpart to this
word. It connotates some roughness, and is used usually only for males. Often
`野郎` is used as opposed to `女の子`, which is as sexually discriminative as the
(American) English counterpart `a guy and a girl`, but many people do not seem
to care.

Since there are only two meanings, which meaning is intended should be clear
enough from the context. The insult usage does not have many variations:
`この野郎`, `馬鹿野郎`, and perhaps a few more.

The 'guy'-usage is pretty much productive; it works as an affix. A slight
departure of the meaning of `野郎` from that of `guy` may be that the former
also connotates some kind of nerdiness when used as an affix. `麻雀野郎` would
mean 'Mahjong guy', but it may also be close to something like 'Mahjong nerd'.
So the intention of using it as a shop name is to give the image of "a Mahjong
nerd's gathering place". There are common expressions like `トラック野郎` 'truck
guy', which means long distance truck drivers who spend most of their time on
a (often extremely decorated) truck.

There are other insult words that have come to mean something similar when
used as an affix. For example, `馬鹿` 'stupid', when used as an affix, means
'geek': `釣{つ}り馬鹿{ばか}` 'fishing geek'. The same applies for another word
`きちがい`, but use of this word should be avoided regardless of its usage because
of the reasons mentioned in [one of the links given in this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2080).

