Dajare

Dajare (駄洒落だじゃれ, "wordplay") is a kind of comic Japanese word play, similar in spirit to a pun that relies on similarities in the pronunciation of words to create a simple joke.

Dajare are popular in advertising. Dajare are also associated with oyaji gags (親父おやじギャグ, oyaji gyagu), oyaji meaning "old man", as an "old man" would be considered by the younger generation most likely to attempt dajare, making them a near equivalent of what would be called "dad jokes" in English.

Examples

With one speaker

Example one:

アルミ缶かんの上うえにあるみかん (arumi kan no ue ni aru mikan)

Translation:

A tangerine on an aluminum can.

Explanation:

アルミ (arumi) means "aluminum", 缶かん (kan) means "a can", so arumi kan means "an aluminum can". Also ある (aru) means "exists" and みかん (mikan) means "a tangerine (mandarin orange)".

Example two:

ウランは売うらん (uran wa uran)

Translation:

I don't sell uranium.

Explanation:

ウラン (uran) means uranium, and the second 売うらん (uran) = uranai (negative form of uru (to sell)) means "not sell".

Example three:

ニューヨークで入浴にゅうよく (nyūyōku de nyūyoku)

Translation:

Taking a bath in New York.

Explanation:

ニューヨーク (nyūyōku) means New York, 入浴にゅうよく (nyūyoku) means taking a bath.

Example four:

レモンの入いれもん (remon no iremon)

Translation:

A container for a lemon

Explanation:

レモン (remon) means "a lemon", 入いれもん (iremon) = iremono means "a container".

Example five:

布団ふとんが吹ふっ飛とんだ (Futon ga futtonda)

Translation:

Futon was blown away.

Explanation:

布団ふとん (Futon) means "a Japanese style mattress", 吹ふっ飛とんだ (futtonda) means being blown away.

With two speakers

Example one:

A: 大だい食ぐいのたけし君くんも、宇宙うちゅうではあまり物ぶつを食たべられないよ。 (ōgui no takeshi kun mo, uchū dewa amari mono o taberarenaiyo)

B: なぜ? (naze)

A: 宇宙うちゅうには空気くうき(食くう気き)がない。 (uchū niwa kūki ga nai)

Translation:

A: In space, even a glutton like Takeshi can't eat anything.

B: Why's that?

A: In space, he has no appetite.

Explanation:

Kūki (くうき) can mean either "air" (空気くうき) or "will to eat" (食くう気き), thus what sounds like a perfectly reasonable statement – "in space there is no air" – takes on a much stronger meaning when said in context.

Example two:

A: 向むこうの通とおりにヘイができたんだってね。(mukou no tōri ni hei ga dekitan datte ne)

B: へぇー。(hee...)

Translation:

A: I hear they finished the wall on the street over there.

B: Well!

Explanation:

The word for "fence" or "wall" here (塀へい, hei) sounds very similar to the Japanese interjection hee (へえ, similar in usage to the phrases "oh yeah?" and "well!"), thus the answer sounds like a repeat of the information in the initial statement.

Another version of this same joke replaces hei with kakoi (囲がこい), which sounds similar to a word meaning something like "cool" or "looks good" (かっこいい).

Children's dajare (with one speaker)

There are also some jokes mostly used by children that resemble dajare. These are also considered jokes that "everybody knows" in most parts of Japan. These are examples of ginatayomi (ぎなた読よみ), which relies on ambiguity in where one word ends and another begins.

Example one:

A: パンつくったことある？ (pan tsukutta koto aru?)

Translation:

A: Have you ever made bread before?

Can also be interpreted as:

A: Have you ever eaten underpants before? (パンツ食くったことある？, pantsu kutta koto aru?)

Example two:

A: ねぇ、ちゃんとお風呂ふろ入はいってる？ (nee, chanto ofuro haitteru?)

Translation:

A: Hey, have you been taking a bath (regularly)?

Can also be interpreted as:

A: Do you take baths with your (older) sister? (姉ねえちゃんとお風呂ふろ入はいってる？, nee-chan to ofuro haitteru?; the casual nee combined with the adverb chanto sounds the same as nee-chan to meaning "with your (older) sister".)

External links

Examples

With one speaker

With two speakers

Children's dajare (with one speaker)

See also

External links