CON: | : BASIC JAPANESE through comics Lesson 52 « Anextraordinary word: sugoi Extraordinary. That seems to sum up the word sugoi best. If you're watching a basket- ball game and someone makes « clutch play, you say, Sugoi! If you see a breathtaking sunset, you say, Sugoi! If your friend successfully juggles two jealous boyfriends in one evening, you say, Sugoi! [As these examples suggest, sugot is used to express Surprise or awe: “Wow!” “In- credible!” “Amazing’” “Cool!” Looking at the kanji, however, we find thatthe o nal meaning was more negative. Sugoi is written if, the same kanji as in sugomu (ie 4, “threaten/intimidate"). In fact, Kenkyusha’s Japanese-English Dictionary lists four definitions in the following order: (1) “dreadful/horrible”; (2) “uncanny/ghastly”; (3) “superby wonderful”; and (4) “awful/immense/tremendous ‘The use of sugoi to express feelings of disgust or eeriness may have once been the norm, but today the word covers a range of m from “wonderful” to “bizarre” 0 “terrible.” I's used both as an exclamation and as a modifier. Here we start with the ° former. Shit Sugoi = “Wow!” ‘Yawara and her grandfather were almost run over by the chauffeur of a bratty rich gitl nam Sayaka, who caused the near-accident by covering the chauffeut's eyes from behind. Osten: bly to apologize, but mostly because she is bored, Sayaka has invited them to her incredibly beautiful house Yawara: Yawara: 94 ManganSugoi = “Incredible!/Great job!” ike a spectacular shot from the rough, Shima and his trier just watched another golfer n Friend: 3%~ POW Four Ua,” sugot sug (exclu) iereie incre “Wow! Way to go! Way to go!” (PL2) Shima: $42 YH —1 ey 2 1 a-ha Natsu rikabariit” Pin soba chi métoru!! “Nice recovery! You're only a meter from. ” (PL2) + most golfing terms are katakana renderings ofthe equiva: Jent English words, + soba relers to location “nearinent 1s someting. Most Iypically the expression is ~ no sb, but when speaking ‘ofthe ball being close tothe pin in pol, the no is “roped. Sugoi ‘Three high school friends are visiting the 200 and come upon an enormous elephant seal “It's awesome/huge! (exclamation of onlookers) Sound FX; 649 164 Bao! bao (elephant seal’s bark) Man: ©, tot De. dette (Guamme “hope STiche’s huge!” (PL2) tou b hot Sugot wane geen emph (cl) “He's really awesome!” + ekki 2 masculine slang/dialct variation of (deka (r deka), a informal word for “biphhuge.” ( Sugoi often an exclamation abou the | large size or quantity of something Mangain 95amazing Hamasaki was arrested in the United States for viol Fortunately, he has friends in very high places who man two former cellmates are impressed, its trafficking in endangered spy age to get him released. Hamasaki 7 Cellmate 1 Zvy PHRF I Cellmate 2: Here and in the next few | examples, we see sugot tod asa modifier + kine, 1e Washington Treaty, which prohib BAT BO WEAN Nan dix ano Nikonjnt? “Whe & Hoc eHon Zi! Singoi hone) mofteyusatta {muting connections (0) postessed ero emp.) “He had some amazing connections!” (PLi2) breviate from the fll katakana render ing ofthe English “connection,” refers only to personal connections people wih pull w whom fone can turn in time of nee. the stem of motte iru ("have/possess) plus the inJabrup past Form ofthe derogatory verb ending -yagaru,-Yagaru is often more an expres ‘Son of suepislastonishment than of disparage tment when the person doing the action i not Sugoi = terrible ‘Qand Goro were sking inthe back country and got trapped in a snowstorm, They have made a snow shelter to weather out the night, but Q isnot faring too wel (Gishim) semble ser “Oh, no! You've got a terrible fever! (PL2) + aiisan exclamation of dismay or alam, 96 MangajnSugoi = powerful This private investigator was hired by a young woman to find her missing boyfriend. The PT has just realized, however, that the young Woman already knows what happened to him—he was Killed in an auto accident. She simply cannot give up hope that he might still be alive some where, PEE Hob. A &EPESE ‘getting old. I had forgotten what a pow (PLD) + toshiby isl is simply “age.” but the expression tosh ddafdsu means “anslate ol. + Gonnant="thow muchlo what degree,” so donna-ni Suga! = "how powerful” and donnasni sugot koto how powerful a thinghvhat a powerfl thing.” + wmagueteta isa contraction of waurete ia ("had for totten") ftom wasurera (forget). An abrupt ques tion followed by a form of wastrera makes an indirect ‘question’ forgeUforzot what ~ BEALE Tesh oa, og) posse (a are” tim co ARK KAR Tou Ck} BACHE zt ta donna-ni —_sugot Koto ka wasuretera yo. n A taba degre powefol ting () tad tergoten (cng) ‘ jl thing it is to love someone. The LO (108 Sec Sugoi = strange ‘Shota and his friends, who live in a company dormitory, have just met Hirata, their new room- ‘mate. In his nervousness, Hirata burst into the room and introduced himself in an excessively Toud voice, mixing dialect with a well-intentioned but very bizarre string of polite words—all in all coming off as a bit of an oddball Tabatake: 8.453 rn ‘Sichey! Sugimoto: 3077 Yoroshitu Shiota: ZAm 24 O (ahinking) Nanka—sugot mo Something ofa strange one has come in ‘We've got a live one here, (PL2) + iva very casual, masculine preting:“Hi/Hey/Yor {Soran isthe short form of yorashiku omega shimast, a greet- ing use at fst moctings, roughly meaning “Please teat me fa \orably "The equivalent phrase in English would be "Pleased 0 meet you" or "How do you do.” + hunk is terally “something/anything,” but often itis used as a often” for adjectives, like “somehow vaguely kind of + ober slike the pronoun “one,” s0 sugoi no ="a strange one. Ga marks this asthe subject. + afte the-te form of fair (entet), and ais the pla atbupt past form of Kuru ('eome") = hate kita = "eatne i.” ite Kama. Mangain 97 ee |‘Sugoku, the adverb form 'A short time later, Shota is showing Hirata around the dorm when Hirata says that he's very reieved. Shota ask hin what he means DR SM: a ipo > © Na gc iu Aboot what?” (PL2) FAT iy wig oc mot BAR Ok hy 7 % Pree dara ate) Mtns. (Cpa) cdg) (cola) re ae Bh Batara ne fe ‘SPicthis is my first time living in a dorm, you know, so 1 (PL3) + the colloquial quotative tei essentially marking the topic inthis case like as for"), Sago, the adverb form of sueok i used when ‘+ hur sis 4 contraction of the explanatory na no desi rfying verbs and adjetives as Well as nouns + Jun Cunsietyvorry") can take either na or no depending on the that take na when meailying exher NOUN ‘comes — a + Hirata goes onto say “but I'm relieved because everyone I've met was really worried Sugoi as an adverb ‘Sayaka the girl who invited Yawara to her house after the accident, has alway’ been the best at everything she does, to the point that she is bored with life, Yawara’s grandfather persuades her to take up judo, and after a month of lessons, she goes off in search of a worthy opponent Sayaka: $509 a, Moth A CLE? Sicgok tsuyoi kon shitern nm —desto? incleiby srong_cldpenon Know (expan) sly igh?” ‘You know someone really song, right?” “Lunderstand you know someone really strong.” (PL3) + shiver sa contraction of shite ine (“kna"), fom shirw "eome torknow, The missing fe sa misprint + deshoddesho makes a conjectre, "sarel/prcbably,” but when spo keen with the intonation of a question i ke ata question: ight that 307 + Properly speaking, the adverb frm, sugolu, should be used + sugohu tao ~"relly incredibly song.” Sometimes in colloquial speech, especially ‘mong young people, the regular adjective form Gt yagod is used to modify her actives, 96 ManganExtremely sugo/ ‘Ataru was standing on a bridge minding his own business when this old man, thinking that Ataru was about to commit suicide, knocked him into the iver in a clumsy attempt to stop him. The man tries to explain that he saw a strong aura of bad fortune around Ataru, and can still see it in his face— but his words come out sounding like a harsh judgment of Ataru’s face itself Old man: B. BRLO MM 0. omushi no kao (summer) "yout face “Your face...” {erp extremely" ba Sfextremely bad! (PL2) + onushi in arcaie sounding Tila Rank / Une Ptr Shop word for you.” Adding no rakes it “Jour.” Mono- is an emphatic prefix that further imensifies the elfect of sagt or mugoku. - Sugoi slang ‘These soccer players have just witnessed an impressive long kick from midfield that only barely missed the goal Player: Fo. FW... 40 Amb IE hots tt Suge.” Yonjat“mitora wa “atta ze! (Mammen) inseditie "0 “meter atleast existed (clog) ‘wow. there was at least 40 meters, We EX: LA si (ef he was at least 40 meters away...” (PL2) ect of awed silence) a after a number or quantity often has the meaning of “at last Feat many/inuchy + tas isthe plainubeupt past form of ar existthere is) + Seis rough, masculine particle for emphasis. (Sagar often bevomes sugé in masculine slang. Other slang | variations-—suggol, sug, sung, ete.—are also quite com Limon, especially when the Wards Being wsed as an exclamation, | Mangain 99