Word of the Week: September 18, 2000
Japanese Imports

After World War II, the culture of the United States had a tremendous influence on Japan, particularly in the areas of technology and business. Many thousands of English words entered the regular vocabulary of Japanese people. One word that traveled the other way is honcho, which was brought to the States by U.S. fliers who were stationed in Japan and Korea. In Japanese, hon' cho means "group leader." Other words like banzai entered English earlier. Banzai was a word shouted as a cheer to the emperor and means "ten thousand years." Given the small number of Japanese words that are found in English--a few dozen, compared with the thousands of English words that have become Japanese--it looks like we can talk about another sort of trade deficit in terms of language.

Words of the Week are written by Dr. Jacques A. Bailly.