Does saying "私は次男坊です" in self-intro sound humorous? why?


I had a list of items to mention during extended 自己紹介 (like during a lunch or
飲み会). With those whom I also hoped to have friendship-like connection with,
I'd also mention "私は次男坊です。" This allowed me to talk about my siblings which I
was happy to do. And, I think it made the native speaker smile or laugh a
little.

"私は次男坊です。" said alone, in a self-intro conversation, sounds funny, right? why?
Would "私は長男です。" sound pretentious?

Or, I could I remembering incorrectly. I also used "次男坊ですから、許してください。" as a way
to be self-depricating. In Japanese culture, the 1st born son is king, the
second born is trash, so I would (to be funny) excuse my failures to being
born the second son (nothing I could control). Maybe they found that 卑下 funny,
and there is nothing funny about simply saying "私は次男坊です". Or maybe my overall
inability to speak Japanese funny. I hope you can help me remember.




You could have said 兄が1人います, which is fairly neutral. Or 私は次男です should have
been better than 私は次男坊です at least a little.

次男坊 is indeed a nuanced word with a certain connotation related to the **old**
Japanese view about family/business inheritance (see
[this](https://hinative.com/ja/questions/79666)). However, in ordinary
business settings in modern Westernized companies, almost no one cares about
one's siblings, and the 長男/次男 distinction you described is not a thing. It
does not work as an explanation of an error even if a joke is intended.

In your situation, 私は次男坊です is strange even if said by a native speaker, but it
might have sounded funnier because it was said by a foreigner. It implies you
know a difficult word but have some misunderstanding about it.




You could have said 兄が1人います, which is fairly neutral. Or 私は次男です should have
been better than 私は次男坊です at least a little.

次男坊 is indeed a nuanced word with a certain connotation related to the **old**
Japanese view about family/business inheritance (see
[this](https://hinative.com/ja/questions/79666)). However, in ordinary
business settings in modern Westernized companies, almost no one cares about
one's siblings, and the 長男/次男 distinction you described is not a thing. It
does not work as an explanation of an error even if a joke is intended.

In your situation, 私は次男坊です is strange even if said by a native speaker, but it
might have sounded funnier because it was said by a foreigner. It implies you
know a difficult word but have some misunderstanding about it.

