4 Ways To Use Baka (ばか) Like A Pro
馬鹿 (ばか、Baka) is a cool word. It’s the most common way to call someone stupid in Japanese. The kanji has a lengthy history on why it is made up of horse-deer. And you will hear this word over and over in a million different contexts (hopefully none directed at you).
How complex can one word be?
You already know how to say it:
Adshapは馬鹿: “Adshap is stupid.”
Or even just say 馬鹿! to call Adshap stupid.
However, there are 4 ways that natives love to use the word which you need to know if you want to sound good.
4. Adshapの馬鹿!
Used mainly by: young women and children
Used mainly with: friends/family in an endearing but angry/scolding way.
の is the possession particle. So you might think this means Adshap’s stupid person, but 馬鹿 isn’t just a stupid person. It is the stupidity itself. So an awkward translation might be “Adshap’s stupidity!”
3. ばあああああか
Used mainly by: young men/women and children
Used mainly with: friends, but also can sound very insulting depending on the situation, so can be saved for enemies.
Just extend the あ sound. The more you extend it, the more emphasis you put on it.
This takes practice to sound natural, as the extension is very unique.
2. 馬鹿、馬鹿、馬鹿!
Used mainly by: younger women and children.
Used mainly with: friends/family
Said in rapid succession. Can be 2 or 3 times, but rarely higher than that.
1. Explosive ば
Used mainly by: younger people
Used with: everyone
Explode the ば sound out forcibly to add to its impact.
Mix and match
You can mix some of the above, but not all of them work well together so be observant.
Best examples:
Adshapのばああああか!
ばか、ばか、ばああああか!
And now you can feel comfortable with one of the most important words in Japanese.
Know any other creative ways to use ばか?
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
ばか じゃない の?
http://randomc.net/image/Nourin/Nourin%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
ばあああああか! (the link doesn’t work)
p.s. じょうだんです :P
copy and paste it rather than clicking on it and it will work
That’s definitely an ultra common one.
Vocaloid 驫麤~とりぷるばか~.
Homer ばか! (though I gather this isn’t particularly authentic).
See also: pretty much every ツンデレ character ever.
Interesting that they translated doh as 馬鹿め
「お前馬鹿なのか」could be added to the list. Also, I love it when the usual construction is flipped, as in [ばああああか、おまえは」. I’m pretty sure I learned that for the first time watching Trick, but I’ve heard it many times elsewhere too.
Trick definitely has its large share of ばか usage.
And the flipped construction is always great, because it leaves it till the last second to decide what the sentence is about. Always keeps you on your toes.
Usually just use the 馬鹿じゃない?
Or when I am talking to my wife and sister in law and they are being really slow, I just say 早く馬鹿達!
Haha, I’m sure they must love that.
By the way, what are your thoughts on the “baka slap” Adshap? (as explained here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuoW-134hEU) You ever been baka slapped? Or baka slapped someone yourself?
Really it’s mostly on TV between entertainers,. In real life, it’s not that common.
What you do occasionally see is the pretend action of about to slap, but not actually making contact with the person’s head. I’ve had this happen with a close friend. It really is only between good male friends, and contact in real life really is rarely made.
However, this was my experience in Tokyo/Chiba/Kanagawa. In Osaka, which is where this type of comedic activity stems, it may actually be a lot more common. Maybe someone who has spent a good length of time there can chime in here?
Haha the combination mix and match one made me laugh, very creative use of 馬鹿!I usually just go for the plain 「ばか!」 myself, though.
Sometimes simple is best!
I can’t read kanji…. Wouldd you maybe put romaji in brackets…please?
Hi,
Only the word 馬鹿 ever appears written in kanji in this article and you can find both its kana and romaji forms in the first sentence.
The article also uses some kana forms, though even those are mostly just the word 馬鹿 as well (or phonetic deformations such as ばああああああか(Baaaaaaaaka)), with the exceptions being the use of the は and の particles.
And on a general note, you really would be much better off relying on kana (which take only a relatively small amount of work to learn) rather than romaji, since you’d then at least have some access to genuine Japanese material.
Did they use that word for daily swearing?
I don’t know if I would go as far to say it is the level of swearing.