JAPANESE PIDGIN ENGLISH

JAPANESE PIDGIN ENGLISH. An informal term applied, often pejoratively, to several varieties of English associated with JAPAN and the Japanese. They include: (1) A PIDGIN spoken from the early 20c by Japanese immigrants to Hawaii, and distinct from the other pidgins and creoles used in the islands. (2) Also Bamboo English. A pidgin used after World War II between some Japanese and the US occupation forces. American military involvement in other parts of East Asia later caused much of this pidgin to spread to other countries: for example, in Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and during the Vietnam War, mamasan (Japanese: matron, especially one in charge of a geisha house, from mama mother, san honorific title) has been used to refer to any bar hostess, and ichiban (most, number one) means ‘the best’. A humorous text in what was called Korean Bamboo English survives from the Korean War, apparently written by a US soldier. It blends elements of Japanese (and to a lesser extent Korean) with army slang, was published by Grant Webster in American Speech (1960), and begins:

Taksan years ago, skoshi Cinderella-san lived in hootchie with sisters, … ketchee no fun, hava-no social life. Always washee-washee, scrubee-scrubee, make chop-chop. One day Cinderella-san sisters ketchee post cardo from Seoul. Post cardo speakee so: one prince-san have big blowout, taksan kimchi, taksan beeru … Cindy-san sisters taksan excited, make Cinderella-san police up clothes.