counters: no end in sight?

[johnpa]

It's funny in retrospect. I was so proud when I learned to tell time.
Then I had to learn a new set of counters for people, chairs and days of the month.
"Oh, well." I thought. "Every language must have its little quirks."
Now I see there's counters for shirts and cars and grades and chapters and years of age... and who knows what else. (Just when I thought Japanese was such a rational and efficient language.)

Does anybody know how many counters are in common usage?

[andamanislander]

I was watching a silly Japanese quiz show on TV one time, and one of the question categories was actually Obscure Counters! The host would read out some off-beat thing - I wish I could remember examples, I think "Obi", that Kimono belt thing was one of them - and the contestants would have to give the appropriate counter word for it. They seemed to get only about half of them right, so...

I think that's a sign that even for Japanese people this isn't necessarily easy. Sure, everyone knows the 10 or 15 most common ones, but that's only the beginning.

I guess it's kind of comparable to names for groups of animals in English. Everyone knows "herd of cows" or "colony of ants" or "pack of dogs" but then you get to "gaggle of geese" or "school of fish" and it's a bit more obscure. But what do you call a group of giraffes? Armadillos? Moles? Beavers?

[Psy]

There are an absolute ton of these. In Japanese they're called 助数詞 "josuushi."

A list for only the a and ka rows:
http://hiramatu-hifuka.com/onyak/onyak2 ... 2%E8%A1%8C

[dat5h]

I guess it's kind of comparable to names for groups of animals in English. Everyone knows "herd of cows" or "colony of ants" or "pack of dogs" but then you get to "gaggle of geese" or "school of fish" and it's a bit more obscure. But what do you call a group of giraffes? Armadillos? Moles? Beavers?

I really thought that was a good way to look at counters (I never thought about that...) and came upon a discovery ... You may like it

http://www.myuniversalfacts.com/2005/11 ... alled.html

*EDITED*

Even Better:
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/ ... e/?view=uk

[andamanislander]

dat5h,

Way cool!