Japanese words adopted into English

The Great Wave by Hokusai, sometimes thought to depict a tsunami, but more likely a rogue wave – click on the picture to go to an interesting history of the artwork on Culture Trip

To coincide with the climax of the Rugby World Cup tournament in Japan I thought I would revisit my occasional series on words we have adopted or adapted into everyday English use.

Previously I have explored words with their roots in Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Celtic, Scandinavian, Indian and Spanish.

With Japanese it is probably a bit different as English speakers didn’t have much contact with the country until the mid-19th century. So most of these words are comparatively new additions to English and came to us along with newly-arrived foods, cultural or sporting practices. Here are some of my favourites – there are links throughout to more information – mostly but not only on Wikipedia. And click on the pictures to go to the image source…

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Back to school for summer

Cardiff and Vale College in Dumballs Road, Cardiff Bay

I think I had better explain why I haven’t published a blog post for over a week! Last Monday I started an intensive four-week course at Cardiff and Vale College (CAVC) and have had even less spare time than I expected. I will still be publishing the tree-following link box on July 7 and I hope to share some monthly tree news from all over the world, but if there is not much else you will know why.

Having been made redundant from newspapers twice in the last two years, I am now embarking on a new career, even though I am past what used to be a woman’s retirement age.

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Reading Challenge update: Science and poetry

Three books I read recently…

In January I signed up to the Reading Challenge on Jera’s Jamboree (details here). Shaz was encouraging us to step outside our comfort zone and read books we might not have considered before.

I decided to read something from EVERY category listed and you can see how I am getting on by looking at my blog page here.

Occasionally I will do a review and this time I am making notes on a non-fiction book, a book of poetry and a book chosen for me.

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Reading Challenge update: Three classics

Some of my recent reading

In January I signed up to the Reading Challenge on Jera’s Jamboree (details here). Shaz was encouraging us to step outside our comfort zone and read books we might not have considered before.

I decided to read something from EVERY category listed and you can see how I am getting on by looking at my blog page here.

Occasionally I intend to do a review. I started with Chris Beckett’s sci-fi Eden trilogy, which you can read about here. This time I am making notes on three classics I have read recently. They are from different genres and “of their time” but each brings vividly to life a society far removed from our own.

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Words: Yellow, colour of the season

Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria, now renamed Ficaria verna) in the woodland part of my garden this week

What a strange word “yellow” seems to be. While most of our words for basic colours are very similar to the German words, such as blue, green and red for blau, grün and rot, at first glance yellow and gelb don’t seem to be related. But they are – about which I’ll say more later.

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Dark Eden is so illuminating…

Chris Beckett’s Dark Eden trilogy – the UK book covers – Dark Eden (pub 2012), Mother of Eden (2015) and Daughter of Eden (October 2016)

Sometimes I encounter SUCH a good book that I feel I must tell everyone to read it! This does not happen very often these days but I have just finished reading Chris Beckett’s Dark Eden trilogy on my Kindle, while riding on the bus to and from work. I couldn’t get enough of the world Beckett has created and polished off all three books in just over a month.

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I’m joining the Reading Challenge

The books I read in 2016 – click on the image to see a bigger version

I’m not a great believer in making resolutions on New Year’s Day – any day will do. So I have decided to “sign up” for the Reading Challenge on Shaz’s Jera’s Jamboree blog. It’s a way of getting out of your comfort zone of always reading the same sorts of books.

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Words: Leaflet, booklet, pamphlet, brochure…

Girl with a basket of pamphlets in a French 18th century painting

Although trees seem to have taken over my blogging life lately, I also sometimes ponder the meaning and origins of words. Bear with me as I invite you to consider the differences between a leaflet, a booklet, a pamphlet and a brochure.

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Threads of thought: Gingham

Black gingham shoes with rosebud trim by Betsey Johnson

I suppose gingham is a fabric we all remember from our childhood and teenage years – mine were in the 1960s and 1970s – and with a revival of fashion from that era it now seems as popular as ever. Or was that LAST year? But this post is about words as much as fashion – did you know the word gingham came from Malaya?

My mother made me some

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Words: Brimstone yellow and sulphur

Yellow moth on Mahonia berries, April 21, 2015

I made a rare observation (for me) of a yellow moth the other day and one thought led to another, as it usually does…

But first the moth. I was arriving home when I saw

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