Photo/Illutration A ceremony for awarding prizes for newly coined expressions and buzz words is held in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Dec. 1. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

While I was waiting at a bus stop one recent evening, I overheard a conversation among girls in school uniforms, apparently junior high school students.

One said, “You know what? Yesterday, I was ‘borokuso’ (brutally) praised by a teacher.”

Surprised by her words, I turned toward them to find a cheerful smile.

Young people sometimes use highly intriguing expressions.

They say, for example, my bangs are in a bad “chian” (security) situation. I’m in an “age age” (up and up) mood. Some even more strange expressions are all the rage these days.

But they become common if many people use them. It would be too pedantic to tell the girls that the word borokuso should only be used in a negative context. Language is a living creature.

In the Taisho Era (1912-1926), writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) wrote about the topic in “Chokodo Zakki,” a collection of essays.

In Tokyo, he wrote, the word “totemo” had been used in negative sentences such as “totemo kanawanai” (nowhere near so good). However, the word was beginning to be used, for some reason, in positive sentences such as “totemo yasui” (very cheap), he said.

As the times change, correct Japanese also changes.

I have heard young people these days do not use “kuten,” a punctuation mark in the shape of a small circle to indicate a full stop, when they write on social media.

Young people seem to feel the full-stop mark gives the impression of aloofness. Considering that the Japanese language originally had no punctuation marks, this trend might be described as a kind of atavism.

Written in new or old styles, expressions that make people feel uncomfortable should always be avoided. In this column, I recently used the expression “hara ni ochinai,” which literally means something “doesn't fall into the abdomen” but is used to mean something that is hard to swallow.

After using it, I received a letter from a reader saying that this seemed to be the wrong expression. This phrase is, in fact, an authentic one listed in dictionaries, but for some people, the phrase is “fu ni ochinai,” which literally means something “doesn’t fall into the guts” and has the same meaning as “hara ni ochinai.”

Most newly coined words and phrases eventually become obsolete and disappear. What will happen to the unusual use of borokuso? The girl looked so happy anyway. I wonder for what she had been praised so much.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 11

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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