Why does お[馬鹿]{ばか}さん contain honorific お?


Why does お[馬鹿]{ばか}さん contain an honorific? If you're basically calling someone
silly, why be "polite" about it? Also, what is the difference in meaning
between お馬鹿さん and just 馬鹿 (I hear the former much less frequently)?




お馬鹿さん isn't "idiot"; it is softer, more like "silly". Also note the -san
suffix.

If a little boy named Daisuke is looking for his cap, while actually wearing
it, you could say, 今日、大ちゃんは ちょっと お馬鹿さんになってきた、ね！ 灯台もと暗し

This is soft compared to something abrupt like おまえが馬鹿だよ！

There is a need in language to have a soft way to say "silly".

This is not to say that we can wrap "o- and -san" (or "-sama") around any
derogatory word and make it into a nice word. "Obakasan" is a word.

Or ... can we?

Let's consider the word 犯人 (criminal, guilty). Would it ever make sense to
have the word ご犯人様 (o-hannin-sama?)？(We use the go- prefix because hannin is a
Sino-Japanese compound, and there is no o- exception for it.) You might think
not, right? It is terrible to be a criminal.

But, take a look at this page:

<http://happy.ap.teacup.com/sasahirobase/431.html>

This is someone Japanese person's blog with pictures. One pictures shows a
damaged wooden floor with scratches.

The following picture is a cute picture of a dog. The caption is ... ご犯人様です

This expresses "this is our little culprit".

The blogger doesn't hate the culprit (quite the opposite), and the "crime" is
petty.




お馬鹿さん isn't "idiot"; it is softer, more like "silly". Also note the -san
suffix.

If a little boy named Daisuke is looking for his cap, while actually wearing
it, you could say, 今日、大ちゃんは ちょっと お馬鹿さんになってきた、ね！ 灯台もと暗し

This is soft compared to something abrupt like おまえが馬鹿だよ！

There is a need in language to have a soft way to say "silly".

This is not to say that we can wrap "o- and -san" (or "-sama") around any
derogatory word and make it into a nice word. "Obakasan" is a word.

Or ... can we?

Let's consider the word 犯人 (criminal, guilty). Would it ever make sense to
have the word ご犯人様 (o-hannin-sama?)？(We use the go- prefix because hannin is a
Sino-Japanese compound, and there is no o- exception for it.) You might think
not, right? It is terrible to be a criminal.

But, take a look at this page:

<http://happy.ap.teacup.com/sasahirobase/431.html>

This is someone Japanese person's blog with pictures. One pictures shows a
damaged wooden floor with scratches.

The following picture is a cute picture of a dog. The caption is ... ご犯人様です

This expresses "this is our little culprit".

The blogger doesn't hate the culprit (quite the opposite), and the "crime" is
petty.

