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オッス

English translation: Yo

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:オッス
English translation:Yo
Entered by: Katsunori Higuchi

09:19 May 26, 2006
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Games / Video Games / Gaming / Casino
Japanese term or phrase: オッス
This appears in game description.
There are other similar expressions like 'ウッス','オース’,'おう','ウィッス'.
How can I express these words differently ? Is it possible ?
Katsunori Higuchi
Japan
Local time: 04:06
Yo
Explanation:
I take it you understand the term and just want to know if handling them differently is possible.

As with many things between Japanese and English, once you get down to the small word modifications and word play / variations there is nothing much you can do.

There are a large number of greetings in English - Hi, yo, hey, all right, how you doin'?, hey there, what's up, how's it going?, you're looking good, nice to see ya, how's it hanging, what's going down? etc. etc. Although many of these are significantly longer than the Japanese you could get across the informal nature of the term with some of them.

If you pick a greeting for each and use them consistantly that will at least give you consistancy. But there is no way to accurately render them all branching from the same source word unless you create a new greeting specificially for that purpose.

Hope some of this helps, anyway.
Selected response from:

Benjamin Wood
Local time: 04:06
Grading comment
Thanks. Your comments are very helpful.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +2Hey; "sup"; "wassup"; etc.
Kurt Hammond
3Yo
Benjamin Wood


  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Hey; "sup"; "wassup"; etc.


Explanation:
It is a colloquial greeting usually used in younger crowds. I think the full form is おはようございます but it is said so quickly that only "oss" is what is heard. The other versions you mentioned are other variations of the same greeting. (I think semantically "おう” does not have the same origin, however)

As far as meaning, I interpret it to mean similar to "`sup" or "sup dude" type of meaning.

Kurt Hammond
United States
Local time: 11:06
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  casey: I agree. One use you may not be aware of is in martial arts. When I was taking karate, this was used to mean "Yes, sir!" after receiving instructions from the sensei. I had a hard time switching from はい!
16 hrs
agree  wallacs2: I think you hit it right on the nail.
15 days
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Yo


Explanation:
I take it you understand the term and just want to know if handling them differently is possible.

As with many things between Japanese and English, once you get down to the small word modifications and word play / variations there is nothing much you can do.

There are a large number of greetings in English - Hi, yo, hey, all right, how you doin'?, hey there, what's up, how's it going?, you're looking good, nice to see ya, how's it hanging, what's going down? etc. etc. Although many of these are significantly longer than the Japanese you could get across the informal nature of the term with some of them.

If you pick a greeting for each and use them consistantly that will at least give you consistancy. But there is no way to accurately render them all branching from the same source word unless you create a new greeting specificially for that purpose.

Hope some of this helps, anyway.

Benjamin Wood
Local time: 04:06
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28
Grading comment
Thanks. Your comments are very helpful.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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