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- Hacker News
- Another fun fact: itadakimasu is categorized as a keigo, or more specifically, kenjougo, an honorific expression that depreciates speaker itself. And since itadaku is an advanced version of morau to show that "I am of lower status", so the whole expression should be (from the gods/kamisama/the people above me who brings me here for the feast) I humbly receives.
This is also why you say itadakimasu even when alone, despite there are apparently no one superior than you exists, but no, it is now the gods you appreciate
by stevefan1999 - ごちそうさまでした。「gochisousama deshita」 This can be said to the cook. I heard "いただきます！"「itadakimasu」more frequently for a variety of reasons. But it is common to shout out to thank the cook when you leave a restaurant. I became comfortable doing it myself.by waffletower
- This definitely feels like an overgeneralization. For what it’s worth, there are plenty of people who don’t say "itadakimasu" at restaurants but would say it when they’re invited to someone’s home as a guest, for example. More people, however, seem to say "gochisousama deshita" (thank you for the food) when leaving, whether at a restaurant or someone’s home.
Some people do say "itadakimasu" out of habit even when they’re eating alone. They may have grown up with stricter manners around meals, to the point where it’s simply baked into their routine. But it’s far from universal. Dramas and other shows may make it seem more universal than it actually is, partly because saying it out loud is more performative and works better on screen.
by unsignedint - > There is a Japanese word that almost everyone reading this has already heard
I had never heard this word. It's the second time in a row that I encounter something unknown to me that is characterized as being universal. Curiously enough, both cases were related to Japan. So either I belong in a minority who ignores well-known elements of that culture, or someone overestimates how widespread such elements actually are.
by teo_zero - Relevant XKCD:
- It pops up all the time in anime. Given the name of the blog, I'm guessing it's accurate to their normal audience.by Izkata
- Well the "this" in "almost everyone reading this" being a reference to an article in a blog called the Tokyo hermit makes it a pretty reasonable assumption.
- Claude seems to be really into japanese customs.by ricardobeat
- I take a break from coding to browse HN, and, lo and behold, I'm greeted with some more Claude.by dasyud
- I guess Japan had become a safe default of an exotic foreign world in a lot of contexts, thanks to it requiring no audience profiling. Usually there are nobody from Japan around, and Japan is usually not so deeply involved in global politics, yet it's a country with global population share of >1% with plenty of topics to explore.by numpad0
- Its strange because I knew the point from the article already, but it kinda seems like some sort of strawman? I think many cultures have a way of saying "thanks for the food" in a universal way and not the cook. Even in western cultures there is "saying grace" and I don't think anyone would mistake it for it being aimed at the cook.by tekla
- I had always assumed it was a sort of quasi-religious practice as the same gesture is typically seen at shrines. Not once in 30 years of consuming Japanese culture did I ever think it was directed at the chef!by mortenjorck
- Japanese also has a word you say to the cook, ご馳走様でした (gochisousama deshita) but that's said after the meal as thanks.by dllu
- There's also a word you say when food is brought to you, ありがとうございます.by charcircuit
- I used to hear that when you finished eating ramen and you should say this as a replacement speech of "thank you". It basically means "It must be tired of you to go around to design and prepare for the meal" which implicitly implied an appreciationby stevefan1999
- > The gloss is not wrong. But it has quietly relocated the word.
Thanks, Fable
- https://www.pangram.com/history/c837bbcb-4aed-43e1-987c-afe2...
I know you're being downvoted, because people are tired of hearing "this is AI".
But I think your comment "this is AI" is warranted. This content, explaining something of cultural, personal significance (instead of the typical technical explainer) should really be written by a human.
by weiliddat - Out of context it does sound like AInese. I think that’s largely because AI has a tendency to use location in very metaphorical terms that don’t quite read, and usually the idea of “relocating” a word would be exactly that kind of vaguely weird metaphorical use of location.
However in the context of this article “relocated the word” is both literal and precise. The word’s target is in a different physical location.
“Quietly” is also AI-coded but does fit in the overall aesthetic of the article.
by asgraham - I feel like this is intellectualizing something that isn't that deep. It's a word you say, not think about. Why do English speakers say "excuse me" after a sneeze? The answer is apocryphal and uninteresting.
- It is nice to acknowledge someone’s or something’s existence/work/troubles/etc. through words. Think about all the gratefulness stuff that circulated around the western media in late 2010s.by tokioyoyo
- Where I’m from, the person who sneezes often says nothing, unless they’re accidentally sneezing near someone else. Strangers nearby however will say “bless you!” or occasionally “gesundheit!” But yes, I think people who utter the words do so as a quick reaction without much forethought.by mproud
- Probably has something to do with the fact that the blog post is not human-written.by thegeomaster
- Similar to a lot of other Japanese phrases out there - "ikigai", etc. It's quite uninteresting as someone who's Japanese or lived in Japan, but an extra level of meaning is attached when projected outwardsby cuoder
- You can make anything shallow by just not thinking about it.
Conversely, the way things become deep is because we intellectualize them.
by j2kun - Haha, I think it's more like an article about "Goodbye" originating from "God be with ye". That part is interesting - a curiosity. However, I do wish there was more about the history of the term, especially that it's a 20th Century national formalization of meal ceremony that was one of many practices of the time. It seems that one particular school of Buddhism won this memetic war and the structures of formalization took it on and thereafter it is now Japanese Culture with a capital C.
The closest analogue I can think of is diamond engagement rings. Doubtless they were given out prior, but they became formally 'normal' for a while. Of course, one was orchestrated and the other was perhaps just the effect of picking some formal culture to teach and so on. But it is similar in recency of popularity.
by arjie - Article falls flat, there’s more,
https://cotoacademy.com/itadakimasu-and-gochisousamadesu/
I could write it up, but this article explains it more. You should really be learning Gochisousama Deshita (ごちそうさまでした) too.
I feel the article is flat because normally you learn both expressions at the same time because it completes a small ritual to, literally thank the cook.
Also em dash galore.
by rootsudo - I’m not sure how true this is but a Japanese friend said Gochisousama Deshita means something slightly different along the lines of “thank you for your lives” and you’re saying that to the food as well as the chef.by andy_ppp
- Fun trivia: the greeting only started to become a thing during the Meiji era as part of moral and ethics education. It may be argued that it has its roots in Buddhist teachings, but there's a theory that the drive to make it a common household practice may have come from the envoys who came back from western countries and saw the Christian prayer and thought it was a good thing to imitate. It's quite a stretch, but personally I find it quite interesting given that it was an era where Westernization was the craze.by syockit
- Its really not that far fetched. Japan has quite a history of copying the aesthetic of things the west does while changing the meaning completely. Christmas is a romantic holiday in Japan, and it is considered fashionable to get married in a church, even though only about 2% of the country is Christian.by deaton
- If true, kudos to them for shrinking it all down to one word. Saying "grace" can be an event to itself at some meals.by mindtricks