Baka "strength"


Here in Germany I can call someone an idiot with included "grading": I can
load it with surplus despise ("Sie Vollpfosten!"), or I can make it almost
tender using dialect ("Du Döspaddel!"). I once made the error of calling
someone a "baka" on the Internet, I thought the whole context made it obvious
the second variant was meant. Fail.

I would be very surprised if Japanese doesn't have the same possibilities as
German here. So, how could you vary the baka making the sense obvious _even
outside of face-to-face communication_? (I guess if a friend says it to
another with a big grin on a face, it can't be misunderstood - or are Japanese
customs of interaction totally different?)

Note there are even more German connotations of the "mentally challenged": the
"Tor"/naive (think Perceval) and the "Narr"/jester (think Nasreddin). Google
Translate, which I never trust in such a case, gives "naibu" for the former
(no translation at all) and "baka" (sic!) for the latter. (And I if I enter it
in English, "dokeshi". Which rather seems to be a clown. But that's the
"institutionalized" version - Nasreddin rather would be a "Schelm" - "fusei"?)

You see, a lot of fine distinctions I can handle without problem in my mother
tongue, but already not even in English. How would you make these distinctions
in Japanese?




First things first - 99% of the time, the word "バカ" written on BBS is simply
slander and has little to no joking meaning. Overseas people use "baka"
lightly (I think it's because of baka mitai, or some animation), but as a
Japanese person, I don't have many opportunities to slander people... except
for when I was a student.

* * *

As far as I know, there are words to describe the strength of stupidity, such
as 大馬鹿 and 小馬鹿. However, I don't think these are often used to emphasize
stupidity (or vice versa). This is because in most cases, the word "馬鹿" is
simply written, and the words "大馬鹿" and "小馬鹿" are rarely used. In most cases,
the word "馬鹿" is enough, and there are not many opportunities to slander
people, as I said above.

By the way, there are other words such as "アホ(stupid)" "ボケ(fool)" and
"マヌケ(dumbass)"(all of those translation is just my opinion based. Oh, and バカ
is idiot for me.); but for some reason, the way they are perceived seems to
change depending on the region.

For example, people in the Kansai area, especially in Osaka, are very
sensitive to being called "バカ", but not so sensitive to being called "アホ" "ボケ"
or "マヌケ". One reason I can think of is that the comedians tend to use words
like "アホ" "ボケ" or "マヌケ" a lot, but I have not seen many comedians saying "バカ".
In the Kansai area, there are a lot of comedians and a lot of programs
specializing in comedy, so perhaps people don't pay much attention to words
they have been exposed to since childhood.




First things first - 99% of the time, the word "バカ" written on BBS is simply
slander and has little to no joking meaning. Overseas people use "baka"
lightly (I think it's because of baka mitai, or some animation), but as a
Japanese person, I don't have many opportunities to slander people... except
for when I was a student.

* * *

As far as I know, there are words to describe the strength of stupidity, such
as 大馬鹿 and 小馬鹿. However, I don't think these are often used to emphasize
stupidity (or vice versa). This is because in most cases, the word "馬鹿" is
simply written, and the words "大馬鹿" and "小馬鹿" are rarely used. In most cases,
the word "馬鹿" is enough, and there are not many opportunities to slander
people, as I said above.

By the way, there are other words such as "アホ(stupid)" "ボケ(fool)" and
"マヌケ(dumbass)"(all of those translation is just my opinion based. Oh, and バカ
is idiot for me.); but for some reason, the way they are perceived seems to
change depending on the region.

For example, people in the Kansai area, especially in Osaka, are very
sensitive to being called "バカ", but not so sensitive to being called "アホ" "ボケ"
or "マヌケ". One reason I can think of is that the comedians tend to use words
like "アホ" "ボケ" or "マヌケ" a lot, but I have not seen many comedians saying "バカ".
In the Kansai area, there are a lot of comedians and a lot of programs
specializing in comedy, so perhaps people don't pay much attention to words
they have been exposed to since childhood.

