Lassie's Gender

[M-92 Mantis]

Congratulations,

IT'S A BOY!

Ahh, good ol' Yoshi, naming a male dog after a timeless classic of a dog named from the word for "girl." You never fail to impress us, Mr. Takahashi.

Lassie definitely speaks with "ore (オレ)", which is strictly male. Kit can explain the specifics in how to know the gender, but using that personal pronoun is a definite.

Before anyone asks: no, Lassie using "ore" doesn't mean he still might be a woman pretending to be a man. Women who use "ore" generally are from tv shows, and are specifically trying to maintain a masculine appearance or personality (Yoshi stays as far away from this as he can - note Cross's entire personality change). Women stopped using "ore" around the Meiji era, so it is basically obsolete. "Ore" is to women as "atashi (私 / あたし)" is to men: only very feminine men use "atashi." Also, Yoshihiro Takahashi has made it clear he keeps the personal pronouns black and white; Cross uses "watashi (私)" which is the gender neutral of the personal pronouns, but is nowhere near "boku" or "ore" in trying to sound specifically masculine. Lydia also uses "watashi." Cross was even trying to keep her gender on a low profile durign her time in Ohu and didn't use "ore". Lydia is of a respectable rank within Viktor's military unit, and neither does she. Watashi is also used by a lot of the men in Ohu, because "ore" is not the only personal pronoun a man can use. Yoshihiro has never once used "ore" for a female.

"Boku (ぼく)" is a personal pronoun that can be used by women who are more tomboyish. Lassie has already been confirmed NOT to use "boku" in his speech; check our proof below.

[Genji]

At last the mystery is solved! It was predictable, but nonetheless it's nice to finally now the truth about mister Lassie.
Interesting things about pronouns and word usage too! I knew the Japanese language was very codified and varied according to your gender and/or relationships with your interlocutor, but it's actually quite surprising to know how deep it goes.

[M-92 Mantis]

Yeah, I had to get Kit's help on explaining the pronouns, since I only know the basics. I wanted to explain that real life usage and manga/anime usage are worlds apart. Basically kind of like our own way of how people act or speak in movies and tv shows: if it's on TV, it's not how reality works.

And with anime/manga, Yoshi is old-fashioned and doesn't use personal pronouns outside of their traditional type of person. "Watashi / ore" for the men, "boku" for the young boys, "watashi / atashi" for the women. So even when anime or manga go outside of the norm, Yoshi generally does not. Especially when we already know his ideals of women's behavior and being much more formal and polite than the men to one another, so any ideas of him going outside of his box is incredibly unlikely.

[Kausza]

Well, there's that mystery solved... I know there's that one scene where Lassie fends off attackers. Can't really see Yoshi putting a female in that position.

[Kit]

Just like to add more proof to this, after reading some of the cleaned chapters Rascal's given me.



坊主 (bouzu) is a familiar term for addressing young males, exclusively. The word comes from its use for a bonze, or "bhikkhu," which is a male Buddhist monk. The female variety are called nuns, or "bhikkhuni."

Dictionaries classify "bouzu"s (likely) more commonly-heard meaning as familiar/derogatory slang. Therefor I usually say it labeled in them as the equivalent of "boy; squirt; sonny; lad" etc, which is adorably hilarious.

[Tora]

Dec 29, 2014 16:15:13 GMT -7 Kit said:

Just like to add more proof to this, after reading some of the cleaned chapters Rascal's given me.



坊主 (bouzu) is a familiar term for addressing young males, exclusively. The word comes from its use for a bonze, or "bhikkhu," which is a male Buddhist monk. The female variety are called nuns, or "bhikkhuni."

Dictionaries classify "bouzu"s (likely) more commonly-heard meaning as familiar/derogatory slang. Therefor I usually say it labeled in them as the equivalent of "boy; squirt; sonny; lad" etc, which is adorably hilarious.

Just found myself laughing a bit if that sentence would be translated to "Are you okay, lad?" (in the end).

[Kit]

Dec 29, 2014 21:25:16 GMT -7 Tora said:

Just found myself laughing a bit if that sentence would be translated to "Are you okay, lad?" (in the end).

I was actually giggling about the same thing. I'm so tempted to translate everything to have characters calling Lassie "lad." Unfortunately, that doesn't fit with any of their speech styles, sine it's considered a bit unusual and formal. Oh well... I always have headcanon.

[Tora]

Dec 29, 2014 23:05:43 GMT -7 Kit said:

Dec 29, 2014 21:25:16 GMT -7 Tora said:

Just found myself laughing a bit if that sentence would be translated to "Are you okay, lad?" (in the end).

I was actually giggling about the same thing. I'm so tempted to translate everything to have characters calling Lassie "lad." Unfortunately, that doesn't fit with any of their speech styles, sine it's considered a bit unusual and formal. Oh well... I always have headcanon.

Would be so fun to read that. Perhaps time to time, if it fit the character that could address Lassie as 'lad'. *dreams away here*

[Kit]

Dec 30, 2014 1:31:18 GMT -7 Tora said:

Dec 29, 2014 23:05:43 GMT -7 Kit said:

I was actually giggling about the same thing. I'm so tempted to translate everything to have characters calling Lassie "lad." Unfortunately, that doesn't fit with any of their speech styles, sine it's considered a bit unusual and formal. Oh well... I always have headcanon.

Would be so fun to read that. Perhaps time to time, if it fit the character that could address Lassie as 'lad'. *dreams away here*

If I can, I will definitely try to squeeze at least one in, since it would be hilarious. I can't promise, but if I come across a perfect opportunity, I will.