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7 Unexpectedly Romantic Uses Of Omae (お前) — 4 Comments

  1. “お前 isn’t てめぇ, which is the real ultimate rude you, which will rarely ever be used outside a confrontational situation.” Are there “legitimate” instances where it’s proper to use it?

    • Not really. I suppose if you legitimately want to start a fight?
      There might be a tiny local dialect out there somewhere that still uses 手前, which is where てめぇ comes from.

      But none in present day (手前 is very old usage) that I’ve ever heard so I’d say that’s a long shot.

  2. I always thought that お前 can’t be that bad. I knew that you shouldn’t use it all too often but the typical English speaking Japanese Forum (famous for doing nothing but complaining how incredible Japanese/Japanese people are) almost forbid to use it. I quite understand why people are warned of that but everyone who reads manga or whatever will understand that お前 isn’t the word that you should use too often. Now I have the evidence that お前 can be used as well. I thought that, really, but these forums that I visited in the beginner stage have somehow made a blockade in my mind. Now I’ve learned something new: Trust your experiences and not people that hang out the whole day in a forum that is meant to be about Japanese (but actually isn’t).

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