Talk:Japanese honorifics

-kyou?

This article says

Gender notwithstanding, Japanese suffixes show various levels of respect, which we could compare to English as follows:

• san (さん), sama (様) → Mr, Mrs, Miss
• dono (殿) → Sir, Madam
• kyou (卿) → Lord, Lady, Dame

Nevertheless, "sama" is used for Shinto gods ("kami-sama"). But as there are millions of them, they do not necessarily deserve the same respect or fear as the single and omnipotent Judeo-Christo-Islamic god. The most referential titles are "denka" (殿下) and "heika" (陛下). The first one means "His/Her/Your Highness" and is used for royal/imperial family members. The second means "His/Her/Your Majesty" and is used for the Emperor or Empress — or King and Queen, in other monarchies around the world.

Is -kyou a valid (archiac?) suffix? Should it be mentioned?

Apologies for my ignorance. 71.41.210.146 (talk) 23:48, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

The suffix is valid, but highly specialized - according to my dictionary, it was only used for the eight ministers under the historical ritsuryo governing system, so I doubt it really merits mention. Incidentally, the article you linked to uses the wrong character for the suffix, while your copy here uses the correct one. Either the article has been changed in the meantime to have the wrong character in it, or you corrected it when copying. On a side note, I find the "meh, they have plenty of gods, so they don't respect them like we do our guy" statement kinda condescending. TomorrowTime (talk) 19:05, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Hm. That's odd - when I edit this page, the correct character shows up, but when I view the talk page itself, the character is wrong. Must be because the correct character is archaic... TomorrowTime (talk) 19:07, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

皇太子 and 皇太子妃

As far as I can tell, the example on "denka" says "Her Royal Highness, Crown Prince(!) Victoria of the Kingdom of Sweden". Please disregard this if I'm wrong. 80.203.101.223 (talk) 01:19, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Not necessarily, 皇太子 is not a male-exclusive word, it means the first in line for the throne, the heir apparent, regardless of sex. You may have seen 皇太子妃 translated as "princess" in a dictionary, but that is assuming this princess is wed to a prince who is heir apparent. 皇太子妃 means "the partner of the 皇太子", so there are cases where the gender roles may be reversed. TomorrowTime (talk) 19:19, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Kun uses

In the section it mentions that the word is mostly associated with men. So has there ever been any case where a female uses it on another female? And if so what would it imply? I think that could be important. Sarujo (talk) 22:52, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

I suppose the only time that this might conceivably happen (joking between friend aside, of course) is when two women who have a seat in the Diet address each-other publicly. I don't think that's really worth mentioning as it implies nothing in particular. Do you have any other examples? TomorrowTime (talk) 19:22, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

I was wondering as the suffix as pointed out was a sign of affection and people would use to the opposite gender. One case male/female case is in Spirit of Wonder, the old man (name escapes me) calls China China-kun, and female/male example Dragon Ball with Bulma calling Son Goku Son-kun. Still, there wouldn't any use for it in the case of two females that had some kind of affection for the other? Or would such nicknames be taboo in such a situation that was perceived by a majority as wrong? Sarujo (talk) 00:02, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

An older, more senior woman can refer to a younger, junior woman with a 'kun' honorific and it would not be out of place. 122.49.168.102 (talk) 14:36, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

Being a native speaker, but I've never known such a usage. I'm afraid you are wrong. Oda Mari (talk) 16:17, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

Family and personal names

It would be helpful if the article made clear in which situations using the personal name would be preferred, when using the family nae would be preferred, and when the use of either would be considered acceptable. Carolina wren (talk) 02:19, 3 September 2010 (UTC)