Help with Japanese needed

[Dan Gould]

My wife wants to adopt another dog, and she's found one that, aside from the different color coats, is clearly the same breed (or mix) as Coltrane is. The dog is a very refined princess type, and the breed is Japanese, so my wife's idea is to use the Japanese word for "lady".

Can anyone help me out and give an aglicized and phonetic spelling of the Japanese word for "Lady"? If its easily pronounced and not too hard to spell, that will definitely be under consideration.

Otherwise, in keeping with the jazz theme of Coltrane's name, I suggested "Ella" since she was the First Lady of Song.

Or we could go with Billie, since she was Lady Day.

Thanks for the help!

[jazzbo]

Okay, not what you asked.

An alternate name though. . .Keiko, the certainly lady-like late wife of Wayne Shorter.

[robviti]

the word is "kifujin."

here's a guide to the sounding out of vowels:

A - Ta(da), ...

I - (The letter) E, chief, (Spanish word) si

U - you, to, true

E - Thames (river), fetch, net

O - No, pole, profession, ... (cut these sounds short)

i read that all syllables receive the same amount of stress or emphasis.

it's “yo-ko-ha-ma” not “yo-KA-HA-ma,“ and “mi-tsu-bi-shi” not “meats-U-bi-shi.”

so, my only-so-slightly-educated guess at the correct pronunciation is:

"kee-foo-jeen"

i hope this helps, and congrats on your upcoming addition to your family.

Edited May 11, 2005 by jazzshrink

[Aggie87]

How about Alice, if she's gonna be 'Trane's partner?

[jazzbo]

Or Naima!

[Dan Gould]

Thanks all (I like Keiko, and easier to pronounce, too) (and Alice was my first suggestion, Aggie) but unfortunately, I just got back from a second visit to the shelter to see how the two would get along.

First visit was pretty good - she was very friendly to him, although it was weird because for the first time ever, he actually acted indifferent to another dog. But they seemed to get along pretty well, no growling or anything, so that's why we were planning to do the adoption, pending one more visit.

Well, this time, things did not go well. It was as if something finally clicked in his neutered brain, and he said, "hey! We got us a female here. I'm gonna give her some lovin'!" and she really, really did not appreciate that.

Guys, how often has that happened ... you misread the signs, you think you're gonna get some, and before you know it, you're headin home all by your lonesome. None of this

with one of these

and you're left like this

So, now its back to the original plan: Keep an eye out for a Weimaraner puppy. He's already shown that he likes puppies, I'm sure he would do fine raising it and it would be no threat to his position as alpha dog.

And I've already got a name picked out, ever since I decided a long time ago that I wanted a Weimaraner: old "Blood and Iron" himself, Otto Von Bismarck. Could use "Otto" or "Bismarck". I think its the perfect name for a German breed.

[bertrand]

It seems there is some confusion. I will try to clear it up:

Keiko Jones (from Japan) is the widow of the late Elvin Jones.

Kiko Morgan (a Japanese-American woman raised in Chicago) was Lee Morgan's first wife, and since they were never divorced, she inherited the rights to his music. I last spoke to her in December 1999; I assume she is still around. His partner Helen More is the woman who shot him.

Wayne Shorter's first wife, who was the Japanese-American woman on the cover of Speak No Evil, was named Teruka (she used the English name Irene). She later married Billy Dee Williams and is still living, to the best of my knowldedge. Wayne's second wife was the late Ana Maria Shorter (she died in the TWA crash 7/17/96). His current wife is Carolina Dos Santos Shorter.

No one named Keiko or Kiko was ever married to Wayne.

Bertrand.

Edited May 11, 2005 by bertrand

[Stefan Wood]

My family has a viszla, which is a cousin to the weimeraner -- almost the same, except they have brown red coats instead of grey, and are a little smaller. Great dogs, but damn, they need attention! And lots of play time as well.

[Aggie87]

My family has also had Japanese-named pets by the way, Dan. We had an Akita named Samurai Musashi (Toshiro Mifune reference), and another dog named Ami Kaibutsu (which means Rain Monster, I think). Also had a cat named Neko, which is "cat" in Japanese , and another named Aki. No pets now, but I'll continue with the Japanese names for sure. I think they're cool...

[jazzbo]

Okay, my apologies, I pulled that off a webpage, the wrong name for Wayne's wife.

I feel sad for him every time I think about his loss. I know how devestated I would be for a long time.

[robviti]

Guys, how often has that happened ... you misread the signs, you think you're gonna get some, and before you know it, you're headin home all by your lonesome.

not once, since i got neutered.

[Bright Moments]

Wayne Shorter's first wife, who was the Japanese-American woman on the cover of Speak No Evil, was named Teruka (she used the English name Irene).  She later married Billy Dee Williams and is still living, to the best of my knowldedge.  Wayne's second wife was the late Ana Maria Shorter (she died in the TWA crash 7/17/96).  His current wife is Carolina Dos Santos Shorter.

wayne shorter had 3 but has any jazz musician had more wives than louis armstrong or charlie parker? they both had 4!

Edited May 15, 2005 by Bright Moments

[Jazzmoose]

Guys, how often has that happened ... you misread the signs, you think you're gonna get some, and before you know it, you're headin home all by your lonesome.

not once, since i got neutered.

The fix is in...

[kinuta]

The Japanese for 'lady' is as follows-

If the person is married it's 'OKUSAMA '. That is pronounced OX- AMA with a slight emphasis on the first syllable.

If the person is single the it's ' OJOSAN'. That is pronounced OH- JOE -SAN with a slight emphasis on the 2nd syllable.

An alternative for 'okusama' is 'GOFUJIN' pronounced GO-FOO-JIN with slight emphasis on the 2nd syllable. This is pretty formal and not used as commonly as okusama.

If I were using it for your dog I would choose ' OJOSAN' as the most suitable. In Japan 'CHAN' is commonly added to the dogs name as a term of endearment.

Hope this answers your question.

[wulfman]

I wouldn't suggest using okusama, as it really means "wife" rather than lady (literally meaning the person inside, like "inside the house").

A couple of other ways to say "lady" are "kifujin" which is a little more hoity-toity than the regular fujin, and "goreijo" which is for joung lady.

[kinuta]

Well. that's true to a point. Kifujin is very much a written word that isn't used in daily conversation. I've never heard anyone use it so I went to 'The Oracle' (my wife) and she agrees. Goreijo is super polite and a way to talk about a persons' daughter in the third person singular. Okusama literally means wife( of another person)

The usage would depend on who is speaking to whom in what situation.

If you wanted to say, 'She's a real lady ', you wouldn't use any of the terms listed but would say johin na kata. If a person was talking in a shop and wanted to say 'that lady' she would say ano okyakusama If talking to a customer about another female he would say ano josei no kata. It's complex.. The problem is that in everyday speech the subject 'she' isn't used in these two situations . Kanojo ( literally she ) would be most rude and never used. If a saleman came to the door and the missus answered he would refer to her as okusama instead of anata (you.) Using anata would be very bad and a definite breach of the rules.

I suppose ' lady' as in Lady Day would be simply the name plus sama.

The bottom line is that there is not one word but many depending on the situation.

What's this got to do with jazz ?? I'm off.

Edited May 30, 2005 by kinuta