Japanese Slang (35 page)

The group of
bebe
words is more active and volatile, especially in the north. In Aomori,
bebe
sired
epe
and
epeko.
In Sendai city it mingled with the northern favorite
omanko,
resulting in
obenko,
a word reserved for prepubescent and virginal organs. In the neighboring prefectures of Iwate, Akita, and Yamagata,
bebe
begat
hehe,
which begat
hepe
and
heppe,
which begat
pepe,
which begat
peppe,
which begat
happe, bappe,
and
dappe.
(In some areas
dappe
is also a risqué reference to the male organ.)

•   
Ore no bebe min
de kun'ro!
Don't look at my snatch!

(In standard Japanese,
ore
is a strong, manly word for “I” that only the most masculine women would ever dare use in public. In many northeastern dialects, however,
ore
is considered tough, but completely gender equal.)

•   
Sonna mizugi kinde n
zo! Om
no hehe miraretchimau kara!
You're not wearing that bathing suit! Your cunt shows through!

•   
Om
y
! Or'a hayaku heppe shin
to dame da!
Man! If I don't get some cunt soon, I'll go nuts!

•   
Om
itsu kara are no peppe miten
da?
When did you get to see her snatch?

•   
Om
bappe ni kuriimu tsukene'kka dame da be! Kapakapada wa!
Put some cream on your snatch! It's all dry!

•   
Shinjirare'kka yo? Are dappe no ke sotchimatta da be!
Man, d'you believe this? She shaved her twat!

Further south, in the province o fIshikawa,
bebe
and
chako
are equally popular, at times fusing into
chabe,
an exclusive regional slang word. About two hundred miles off Ishikawa's coast, on the beautiful and wild islands of Oki,
bebe
is used along with
bebecha, bebeko,
and a string of melodious local variants such as
benbe, bonbe,chanbe, chanpe,
and
ochanpe.

Travelers who follow the development of
bebe
through the mountains of Tohoku, the plains of Kanto, and the tea plantations and rice fields of Chubu gasp when, in Kinki, in the national park of Isseshima, the local in-crowd informs them that they are mistaken, that
bebe
actually means “dirty” or “gross.” Only the most unfashionable villagers in outlying coastal areas, they add, might use
bebe
for vagina.

Then, still further south, in Yoshino, near Osaka,
bebe! bebe!
means “potty! potty!” in children's lingo, but “vagina! vagina!” in adult slang. On Tsushima, an island about a hundred miles off the coast of Kyushu, mothers will screech out
bebe!
(yuck!) whenever their toddlers grope about in the mud or splash in roadside puddles. In southern Kyushu, in Kumamoto, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima, the mercurial
bebe
means both “shit” and “female organ.”

Another important family of vagina words from central Japan is the
tsubi
group. The
tsubi
terrain stretches from just south of Tokyo, where it appears as
ts
bi,
down to the seaside areas around Hiroshima city. As
tsubi
journeyed south it stayed relatively intact, undergoing few regional sound changes, but in some of the more remote backwaters it has occasionally
shifted its meaning. In Shizuoka, on the eel farms of Lake Hamana,
tsubi
has been transformed into both
tsunbi
and the more drawling
tsunbii,
both expressions reserved exclusively for prepubescent organs. On the plains of Mie,
tsubi
and its variant
tsube
have been appropriated as a feisty synonym for clitoris, while just north, in Aichi,
tsubi
refers to intercourse. In villages around Osaka, rough individuals turn the noun
tsubi
into the verb
tsubimagu
(vaginal connection) when coarsely alluding to sex.

Tsubi's
southern outpost is the island of Shikoku. In the provinces of Kagawa and Tokushima it precariously shares its turf with
tsube,
which means “anus.” To avoid a mixup, many villagers prefer
tsube-nasu
when fast-moving conversations turn to bottoms.

Organs of the Outbacks