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Does "バルス", which is popular in [tweeting](http://kotaku.com/5868320/how-an-
old-japanese-anime-broke-twitter-records/) during Laputa, have any meaning or
etymology, or rationale for being in katakana?


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2020-03-03T17:45:16.790
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question
japanese-language castle-in-the-sky
In Laputa, does "バルス" have any meaning or etymology?


If you recall from the movie, the word "BALS," is the Laputian incantation the
collapses Laputa. In the Laputian language it means "to close."

According to [various](http://sugoitokyo.com/en/?p=184)
[online](http://www.japancrush.com/2013/stories/japan-breaks-record-for-
tweets-per-second-again-with-bals.html) accounts this originated from the
world record setting number of tweets that happened during a public re-airing
of the movie on Japanese Television:

> On the night of August 2 (2013), during the "Friday Roadshow" airing of the
> Japanese anime film Laputa: Castle in the Sky on Nippon Television Network,
> Japanese netizens renewed the world record of Tweets Per Second (TPS) at
> 143,199 TPS by all (simultaneously) tweeting the magic spell "BALS" at the
> same time as the protagonists Princess Sheeta and Pazu read the spell
> together during the film. In the story, the magic spell "BALS", meaning
> "close" in the language of Laputa, is a spell of destruction that destroys
> the city of Laputa. The spell is said to have derived from the Turkish word
> "barış," meaning "peace."

The sheer amount of tweets wound up overburdening Twitter's servers, resulting
in the appearance of the the well-known "Twitter Whale." The overwhelming
popularity and notoriety of the tag (it's said that "BALS" was the ironic
cause of the sever collapse), it stayed and eventually became a fixture in on
the Japanese side of Twitter due to this event.


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answer


Katakana are used for words that are not actually japanese.

Since Balse is a word in Laputian language it has to be written in katakana.


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