11mo ago

The Oxford English Dictionary’s latest update adds 23 Japanese words - "Isekai" is now officially part of the OED.

www.theguardian.com The Oxford English Dictionary’s latest update adds 23 Japanese words

More than half of the borrowed words relate to cooking, while Kintsugi, the increasingly popular art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer is also included

It's official. You're not an otaku nerd anymore if you say Isekai but someone with an extensive vocabulary. Don't let anyone tell you anything else!

Isekai @ani.social

Lvxferre @ani.social

11mo ago

The Oxford English Dictionary’s latest update adds 23 Japanese words - "Isekai" is now officially part of the OED.

www.theguardian.com /books/2024/mar/27/the-oxford-english-dictionarys-latest-update-adds-23-japanese-words

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27 comments

Coming up next for the Oxford dictionary: Truck-kun.

Does that mean isekai is a valid scrabble word?
- Doesn't Scrabble have its own dictionary?
  
  There are Scrabble dictionaries, but they're mostly for convenience.
  The actual rule is that you can use any word that appears in a standard English dictionary, except for suffixes, prefixes, abbreviations, or anything that requires a hyphen, apostrophe, or capital letter.
- Yep!

Katsu, donburi, okonomiyaki...
Now I'm just hungry. Three of my favorites all in one article.

!isekai@ani.social is open! Now not just for weaboo, but also for people of culture! ...we're still a buncha weebz.

What does it mean though? Serious question, I don’t watch animes
- A Japanese genre of science or fantasy fiction featuring a protagonist who is transported to or reincarnated in a different, strange, or unfamiliar world. Also: an anime, manga, video game, etc., in this genre. Frequently as a modifier. - Oxford English dictionary
  
  Okay, so Fantasy or sci fi with a real world protagonist so to say. Interesting that happens enough to make a sub genre lol
  
  I noticed they studiously avoided using the phrase "light novel".
  I just tried, and they don't have a definition for that phrase.
  The best match that the OED came up with was "railway novel" defined as:
  railway novel, n. A light novel, typically in a cheap edition, suitable for reading on a railway journey.
- As the other users have mentioned, its a genre about going to another world, and its real big in Japan right now, but you're definitely familiar with it in some form.
  After all, The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe is technically Isekai.
  Its actually really fun to look back and figure out what classic things are.
  
  The New Testament was isekai?
  "My Father Is A God, So I Was (Re?) Incarnated In A Manger And Started A Religion"
- It's explained in the article.
  Isekai, a Japanese genre of fantasy fiction involving a character being transported to or reincarnated in a different, strange, or unfamiliar world, also made the OED.
- "Isekai" is "another world". Everything else is debatable.
  Some are rather strict on isekai being a trope: the protagonist of the work is transported or reincarnated into another world. Some however see it as a genre, defined by the presence of the trope and potentially additional factors (such as resemblance to other isekai works).
- a Japanese genre of fantasy fiction involving a character being transported to or reincarnated in a different, strange, or unfamiliar world
- Fish out of water story

Zettai ryouiki betta be in there too.
- For the connoisseurs

27 comments