Sunday, April 1, 2018

orekko オレっ娘

In Japanese, orekko オレっ娘 means a girl that uses ore, a masculine first person pronoun.

It's also spelled orekko 俺っ娘, オレっ子, 俺っ子.

Definition

The word orekko is a portmanteau of ore 俺 and ko, "child," spelled with the kanji for "daughter," musume, which then means "girl," ko 娘. Various terms for types of girls follow this same pattern, like bokukko ボクっ娘, a girl that uses boku instead.

See ~kko ~っ娘 for details.

In general, girls don't use ore in real life. It's more something that anime characters use.

Originally, the pronoun ore 俺 was used by both men and women, but nowadays, in most of Japan, it's used only by men. Some regions of Japan retain the original usage, so, in those regions, it's considered normal for girls to use ore 俺.

The pronoun ore 俺 is considered more manly than boku 僕, as such, orekko characters are fewer than bokukko characters ,and orekko characters often have some sort of manliness that bokukko characters don't typically have.

For example, orekko characters are typically tomboyish. Some beat boys in a fight, i.e. they're otoko-masari 男勝り, "man-besting." Others look like guys, i.e. they're reverse traps.

いっそアンタもモデル目指してみたら 俺が? 需要あると思うよ つっても俺ファションとか知らんし
Manga: Centaur no Nayami, セントールの悩み (Chapter 3)
  • Context: Gokuraku Nozomi 獄楽希, a monster girl that looks like a boy, checks a fashion magazine that seems to feature one of her friends in the cover.
  • isso anta mo moderu φ mezashite-mitara
    いっそアンタモデル目指してみたら
    How about [you] try to become a model, too?
  • ore ga?
    が?
    Me?
  • juyou aru to omou yo
    需要あると思うよ
    [I] think there's demand.
    • For a model that looks like a boy.
  • tsuttemo ore fashon toka shiran shi
    つってもファションとか知ら
    [Even if you say that], I don't know [anything about] fashion.
    • tsuttemo - contraction of to-itte mo と言っても.

If a female character crossdresses and pretends to be a boy, they may switch to a masculine pronoun such as ore.

女の子が「俺」なんていけません!! おかーさん!!!ハルヒが汚い言葉を使うよゥーー!!! お母さん?誰? 俺かね・・・なんとなく
Manga: Ouran High School Host Club, Ouran Koukou Hosuto-Bu 桜蘭高校ホスト部 (Chapter 3)
  • Context: in order to repay a monetary debt, Fujioka Haruhi 藤岡ハルヒ has to pretend to be a boy at a high school host club, and to play the part she uses the pronoun ore 俺. Hearing her say this, the club president, Suou Tamaki 須王環, who instantly started acting like he's her father, says:
  • {onna no} ko ga "ore" nante ikemasen!!
    女の子が「」なんていけません!!
    Girls shouldn't [say] "ore!"
    • ikemasen - literally "can't go," translates as "shouldn't."
  • okaasan!!! Haruhi ga {kitanai} kotoba wo tsukau you~~!!!
    おかーさん!!!ハルヒが汚い言葉を使うよウーー!!!
    Mother!!! Haruhi is using {dirty} words!!!
    • In Japanese, it's common for words that mean "mother," like okaasan お母さん, to be used to refer to one's wife, i.e. Tamaki is referring to his daughter's mother, not to his own mother.
  • okaasan? dare?
    お母さん?誰?
    Mother? Who [is it]?
  • ore ka ne... nantonaku
    俺かね・・・なんとなく
    Me, [I think]...
    • nantonaku - it just feels like it's so, used when you feel something is true for some reason or another, but you can't say exactly why you feel like that.
    • Although, in this case, it would be because Ootori Kyouya 鳳鏡夜 is the vice-president of the club.

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