Sunday, November 27, 2016

kakko カッコ

In Japanese, kakko カッコ means either "appearance" or "parenthesis." In the former case, it's also spelled kakko かっこ and found in compound words.

"Appearance"

To begin with, kakko カッコ can be the abbreviation of kakkou 格好, which means "appearance."

Manga: School Rumble (Chapter 16)
  • Context: Tenma devises a plan to confess to Karasuma.
  • kokuhaku dai-sakusen ~sono go~
    告白大作戦~その5~
    Great Confession Strategy: 5th [Iteration].
    • sono go その5
      Its five. (i.e. there were other 4 great confession strategies.)
  • imeeji wa koto da!
    イメージはことだ
    The impression is [important]!
    • wa koto da
      はことだ
      ...is the thing. Is what matters. Is important.
  • kujaku no hane
    くじゃくの
    Peafowl feathers.
  • doon to butsukaru
    ドーンとぶつかる
    Bump against [with force.]
    • doon ドーン
      Boom. (onomatopoeia, bump against with enough force to make a sound.)
  • Karasuma-kun 烏丸くん
    (victim target.)
  • kiken na basho
    キケンな場所
    Dangerous place.
    • Plus a drawing of a school.
  • gakkou no okujou?
    学校の屋上?
    The school's rooftop?
  • ...nanka chigau-n-da-yo-na~~
    ・・・なんか違うんだよな~~
    ...there's something wrong, isn't there~~
    • "Something is different, isn't it?"
    • chigau 違う
      To differ. (e.g. from what's right, therefore "to be wrong.")
  • aa mou yameyame!
    あーもうやめやめ!
    Ah! [I give up!]
    • mou もう
      (interjection of frustration.)
    • yameru やめる
      To give up. (×2)
  • konna kakko shite
    kokuhaku suru ko nante
    iru wake
    nai jan

    こんなカッコして告白するなんているわけないじゃん
    [Someone] who [puts on an outfit] like this and goes confess [can't possibly exist, right]?
    • kakko shite カッコして
      kakkou wo shite 格好をして
      "To make it so the appearance is in a way."
      To make one's appearance in a way.
      To put on an outfit. (thereby changing one's appearance.)
  • bakabakashii! バカバカしい!
    [This is stupid!]

Kakkoii, Kakkowarui カッコいい, カッコ悪い

The way this kakko カッコ is more frequently used is in the compound words kakkoii カッコいい, which means someone or something looks "cool," "impressive," "admirable," and kakkowarui カッコ悪い which means "lame."

Difference between kakkoii and kakkowarui shown in the manga boku no hero academia

These words are, of course, abbreviations of kakkou-ii 格好良い and kakkou-warui 格好悪い.

Literally, they mean "good-looking" and "bad-looking" respectively, because ii いい means "good" and warui 悪い means "bad."

A word which works similarly is kimochi 気持ち, "feeling," which's part of kimochi-ii 気持ちいい, "feels good," and kimochi-warui 気持ち悪い, "feels bad."

Kakko-tsukete カッコつけて

Another word in which kakko カッコ appears is in kakko-tsukete カッコつけて. This one means "to try to look look," or "to show off."

"Parenthesis"

Lastly, kakko カッコ can also mean "parentheses," kakko 括弧. Specially the round parentheses, (), maru-kakko 丸括弧, which are used in Japanese internet slangs:
  • kakko-warai
    (笑)
    "(laugh)"
    • lol. rofl. lmao. etc.

The verb tojiru 閉じる, "to close," can be used to say the closing parenthesis. The word toji 閉じ, "closing," also works.
  • kakko tojiru カッコ閉じる
    kakko toji カッコ閉じ
    Closing parenthesis.

For example:
  • kakko warai kakko tojiru
    (笑)
    Parenthesis, laugh, close parenthesis.
  • kakko warai kakko toji
    (笑)
    Parenthesis, laugh, parenthesis closing.
kakkou 格好

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