Published June 15, 2007
Twenty Five Years ago, this column reprinted samplings from the Evacuation Camp Lexicon (1945 WRA Community Analysis Report) of words and phrases that flourished in the camps.
That column was carried in the Hokubei Mainichi and Editor Howard Imazeki hoped "our Sansei kids would relax sometimes and coin some pointed words that would tickle funny bones." Bill Hosokawa remembered some "Issei-ese" in his "Frying Pan" columns. Kay Tateishi in Tokyo sent Toru Matsumoto's "A Random Dictionary" of foreign words borrowed by Japanese. The San Francisco Nisei-Retirement Group gathered a list of Issei pidgin English, calling it "unadulterated Nichibei-go."
Meantime, P.C. readers submitted expressions of Issei pidgin and words bandied to and fro by Nisei in the camps.
The WRA analyst recorded words and phrases he thought were the "most tellingly" expressed. Issei compacted English words when they were too much to mouth and Nisei chose playful Japanese (Jp.) words that became Americanized slang or when Japanese words you knew were easier to say.
Merging of two language styles was truly "camp language." The analyst noted: "The (WRA) center is an abnormal community with distinctive characteristics. It is not a corner of Japan nor is it the mainstream of American life. Such a separate community develops its own vocabulary, assimilating into it the type of humor, sarcasm and attitudes which reflect the daily life of the center."
Terms most common at Tule Lake:
AJI (from agitator.) BURU (bourgeoisie.) DEMO (demonstration.) SEKON HAN (second hand.) SENCHI (sentimental.) TAKUSHI DE YUKU (means "to walk," takushi=taxi, de=with, yuku=to go. Since there were no taxis in camp, the expression was a humorous attitude toward camp life.) TOTÉ SHAN (means "very pretty," toté-totemo (Jp., "very," German schön, "pretty.") YANGU ("young," used in a derogatory manner by Issei addressing a Nisei, describing a person unversed in anything practical.)
Terms reflecting Issei interest in sports:
AU-TOH (out=in baseball.) BESU BOHRU (baseball.) DORON GEHMU (drowned-out game, game called on account of rain, doron=two syllables in Japanese for "drown.") GORO (ground ball. From Jp. goro goro = sound of something rolling, thunder.) TONNERU (tunnel refers to error when ball passes through the player's legs.) Baseball positions were said with a Japanese accent: PICCHA. KETCHA. FAS'TO BES'. SEKON BES'. SAADO BES'. SHOTO-STOP'. AU-TOH-FEERUDA.
Terms reflecting foods:
Issei pronunciation of American food. MESU (mess hall.) BATA. B'REDDO. BURONI. EGISU (instead of Jp. tamago.) KEIKI (cake.) MIRUKU. PAI. ROHSU (roast beef, Issei style of voicing the first two syllables to American words. Japanese regarded "roast beef" as one word.) [ I wonder which camp served ROAST BEEF?] SUPPU. WEENEE.
How Issei said some English words:
BANKU. BEHRU (bell.) BOTTORU (bottle.) HOHSU (horse.) KAATEN (curtain.) KYAMPU (camp.) KYANTEEN. OFISU (office.) OH-RAI (all right.) RAKKU (lock.) SHABERU (shovel.) STOHBU (stove.) WAADO (ward.)
Terms coined by older Nisei:
Block head = The block manager, often in a derogatory way; Chôchin mochi (Lantern carrier.) In camp, a person who accompanied a timid suitor to help his courtship; Damé (Jp.: uselessness, impossibility.) "It's no good." Everyone in camp knew this word.
Did you went? Shall we went? (Instead of using correct tense, "go".); Donchu sôdan me? (Nisei for "Why didn't you donchu ask me?" Sôdan=meeting, consultation.); Esquire = Boy, all dressed-up; Happa (half caste.) Introduced by Hawaiians at Tule Lake; Hollywood = Girl, all dressed-up.
Ibei-Kibei (Nisei: "Japanesy"); Inu (Jp.: dog.) As applied to so-called stool pigeons in camp; Kau-kau (Chinese: "to eat") Hawaiian slang at Tule Lake; Koshinuké (Jp., cowardice.) "He's a koshinuké." (From two Japanese words: koshi = hip, nuké = dislocated.) "He has no backbone."
Mop Head = The boys with long-hair; Nanchu Say? Combination of nani (what), chu (you.) "What did you say?"; Pachuko = Mexican American zoot suit style, long and interlaced in back; Pechanko (Jp.: to be flattened.) "My wallet is pechanko"; Peko-peko (Jp.: not to grudge, bow one's head.) Often said when hungry. "My stomach is peko-peko."
Powder factory = Girl heavily made-up, especially with powder; Shimpai (Jp.: anxiety, worry.) Often heard: "No shimpai"; Slop suey = Variant for "chop suey," as dinner of rice, meat and veggies was slapped on one dish; Suppon-tei = superintendent. (Jp.: suppon = terrapin, snapping turtle.) (Jp.: tei = emperor.)
Waste time = Dislike of some activity; Wolfing glasses = Dark glasses; Yabo (Jp.: boorishness, awkward country bumpkin.) Applied in a self-derogatory manner to "Japanese"; Yogoré (Jp.: yogoreru = to get dirty.) Term applied to some rough elements, an unsavory gang.
A generation would pass after the WWII camp years that the term, "Nikkei" (of Japanese ancestry) came to being, referring to the Issei, Nisei, Sansei and persons of Japanese ancestry. Occasionally, Yonsei (fourth generation) and Gosei (fifth generation) see print. Whether succeeding Japanese American families will continue counting will be up to them.
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