In my neverending attempt to learn Japanese, I noticed that Usopp's slingshot attacks are called "boshi" and is translated as "star." But when I looked it up, "hoshi" is the japanese word for "star," while "boshi" can mean "epitaph", "mother and child", or "thumb." So my question is, is Usopp's "boshi" just a different way to pronounce "hoshi" or am I just confusing myself with some bad Japanese translation sources?
Boshi/Hoshi?
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That's a good question. I know nagareboshi (Like Gin) means shooting star. I've heard it in lots of places. But in the first Bleach opening I think they mention hoshi and translate it to star. I'm not very good with japanese but maybe it depends on if you put something in front of it or not. But I dunno.:sleep:
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There are lots of instances like that in Japanese. The word for "hair" is "kami", but if you put a word in front of it that indicates a specific type, like Shanks's nickname "redhair", you'd have the words "akai" for red and "kami" for hair. But as a compound word it becomes "akagami". I don't know if I explained that very well….
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Whoa… all fear the almighty hairgod, kamikami!
Anyway, I thought boshi is star too. Houkiboshi, a Bleach ending song, means shooting star right? Then again, I remember another song, this one from Naruto's ending series, called Ryuusei. If I'm not wrong, that's something like shooting star/comet too.
is confused
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"Hoshi" is the word for star by itself, but if you have something like "shooting star" is becomes a compound word, so the "h" sound becomes a "b" sound with the other word at the begining. This would be a lot easier with visual references. -_- There's a reason for the "h" sound always becoming a "b" sound and a "k" sound always becomes a "g" sound, but I don't know how to explain it without kana.
Oh, and a hair god would be "kamigami". XD There are so many repeated words in that language I can't even tell you. "Kami" can mean "hair", "god", "paper" and possibly more that I'm not aware of, and I don't even want to think about all the different meanings for "shi".
But to answer the original question, yes, Usopp's attack name is supposed to be "hoshi", but because it's part of a compound word it's pronounced with a "b".
If you spoiler me, I will eat you with tater tots. -
Ah, okay. Thanks a lot bevin.=)
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Ooh! Shinigami would be an example of this too, right? I think I understand how this works with kana.
So yay, I learned something new today!
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It's just easier to pronounce it when it becomes -ga or -bo
ka -> ga
ho -> bo
ha -> baakagami is easier than akakami, nagareboshi is easier than nagarehoshi. etc.
