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My friend Tom seems to provoke Mother Nature’s wrath wherever he goes. When he stayed with friends in Michigan last month, a freak windstorm made them lose power for two days. Six months earlier, he visited Titusville, Florida, and a severe tornado arrived at precisely the same time. Not long before that, a tornado accompanied him to Olney, Maryland. When Tom was just six, a tornado hit his family’s farm in Illinois. Although the family recovered and rebuilt the garage, another tornado took that one out, as well. Coincidences? I think not.
Apparently, Tornado Tom is not the only person with these powers, as the Japanese have a similar concept:
雨男 (ameotoko: man whose presence seems to cause rain)
rain + man
And then there’s a word with the opposite ingredients: man + drought:
男旱 (otokohideri) man + drought
You might think this referred to a man who brought sunny skies. But no, 男旱 means “scarcity of eligible or interested men.” In other words, it’s not raining men!
Golconde, 1953, by René Magritte.
Women around the world lament the scarcity of eligible men. The Japanese may be especially knowledgeable in this area, because they’re pros at counting men.
The Measure of a Man
What is it to be a man—or, rather, to be 男 (DAN, NAN, otoko: man, male)? People have asked this through the millennia, and the Japanese are no exception. Consider, for instance, this palindrome:
男の中の男 (otoko no naka no otoko: man among men, manly man, alpha male) man + among + men
Not surprisingly, people often locate the source of manhood in a particular part of a man’s body. Where would you locate that quality? The Japanese answer may surprise you:
骨の有る男 (hone no aru otoko: man of spirit)
bone + to have + man
In Japan, a manly man has bones! Weaker men apparently flop around without skeletons.
Of course, you could also say that a man’s man has guts (or, more precisely, an abdomen):
腹の据わった男 (hara no suwatta otoko: man with plenty of guts) abdomen + to set + man
I’m not sure what the verb 据わる (suwaru: to set) is doing here. But we’ve certainly seen what an important role the abdomen (腹, hara) plays in Japanese emotional life, so let’s take a moment for a quick abdominal exam.
We now know what men are made of (and it’s not “snakes and snails and puppy dog tails,” as English speakers have it). But what exactly do real men do? My dictionary provides three hints:
• Men don’t cry. If they do, you can use the following word to emphasize this startling departure from acceptable behavior:
男泣き (otokonaki: weeping in spite of being a man)
man + to cry
• Men produce distinctive scents, and I don’t think they’re pleasant ones:
男臭い (otokokusai: smelling like a man, masculine)
man + stinking
This word usually has the figurative meaning of “masculine.” A Japanese friend considers Arnold Schwarzenegger to be more 男臭い than Hugh Grant. That’s a relief to me. I’m a big Hugh Grant fan, and since I can’t drop the idea that 男臭い involves a stench, I would like to think he doesn’t have this problem!
• Men shake or wave something or other:
男振り(otokoburi: manliness; good-looking)
man + to shake, wave
Now, what exactly are they shaking or waving?
On Men of the Supernatural Sort …
Good Guys and Good-Looking Guys
The last compound, 男振り, is just one of many Japanese words about attractive men, including this common and straightforward term:
美男 (binan: handsome man) beautiful + man
This compound has a variation:
美男子 (binanshi: handsome man)
beautiful + man + young man
I initially thought the 子 represented the “thing” suffix here, making me wonder about the extent of sexual objectification in Japan! But Jack Halpern’s dictionary says this 子 means “young man” or “boy.”
On the subject of 子 (which has many meanings), the next word contains two such shapes:
好男子 (kōdanshi: handsome man)
to be fond of + man + young man
The first kanji, 好, contains two components: woman (女) + child (子). From that perspective, this word contains a conventional nuclear family: a man, a woman, and two children!
The breakdown of the last compound is peculiar. Who exactly is fond of men and young men?! For that matter, who thought it important to coin so many words about men’s attractiveness—women, vain heterosexual men, or gay men? The next word seems to suggest an answer:
男前 (otokomae: handsome man) man + worthy of
It’s quite tempting to break this compound down as man + before, conjuring up the image of a man before a mirror, asking, “Who’s the fairest of them all?” But Halpern provides four words in which 前 means “worthy of,” and 男前 appears on the list.
For the Other Three “Worthy of” Words …
Now we turn to two counterintuitive phrases about good-looking men:
良い男 (ii otoko: handsome man) good + man
With the yomi of ii otoko, this means “good-looking guy.” But you can also read this phrase as yoi otoko, in which case it means “good guy.” Tricky!
心は良い男 (shin wa yoi otoko: handsome man)
heart + good + manThis means the same as the previous compound, but now the breakdown emphatically refers to a “good heart,” increasing the mismatch between ingredients and the whole meaning. Here’s my guess about how this evolved: Once upon a time, the Japanese thought a man with a good heart was a catch. They referred to such a man as 心は良い男. Later, people decided that he only needed to be hot, nothing more. But the term 心は良い男 remained the same. What do you think?!
The lingo becomes racier when we introduce the 色 kanji:
色男 (iro-otoko: lover; lady-killer; sexy guy) lust + man
Although 色 (SHOKU, SHIKI, iro) usually means “color,” it can also mean “lust,” “sensual pleasure,” “sexual passion,” and “love.” If you have any doubts about that interpretation, inverting the above compound may change your mind:
男色 (danshoku or nanshoku: sodomy) man + lust
Sodomy?! An inversion indeed!
On that note, it must be time for the final Verbal Logic Quizzes of the day.
