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Question to Teacher: Can girls use BOKU sometimes?
Course 1 Lesson 3: Who is it? (New Words)

aliao22

Post Date: 2002-06-27 09:31:38

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2002 Jun 27

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Although "boku" is noted as used by males only, I've noticed that in some Japanese pop songs, a female singer would refer to herself as "boku" and to her object of affection as "kimi". This seems like a reversal of roles. What is the explanation for this?

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JFZ_George

Post Date: 2002-06-30 04:23:51

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1997 Aug 25

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BOKU is for males and KIMI is referring to a female and is equivalent to ANATA. However in some songs the girls use BOKU as you mentioned. There are 2 possible reasons for this:

1. The song was actually written by a male.
2. The song is sung from the perspective of a male.

Girls do not in everyday life use BOKU to refer to themselves. However!!! Recently in the last couple of years or so I have heard girls refer to themselves as BOKU or the even more rough version ORE. This is still very rare. Most girls who say this tend to have rough personalities or are at the age of rebellion. It is would be VERY VERY VERY awkward for any woman of working age to use BOKU.

No matter how rough a girl or boy speaks, this normally changes dramatically when they get a job since rough speaking will be rude when speaking to a customer. For some Japanese entering the work force forces them to learn to be polite and respectful. Of course it all depends on how their parents raised the boy or girl. Most Japanese people are polite by nature.

EPK75

Post Date: 2002-08-16 08:44:38

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2002 Apr 13

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Interesting. The other day I was watching a clip of a talk show from Japan, and one of the guests was the pop group Morning Musume. One of the girls (who was about 13) referred to herself as "boku." So I was about to ask someone here the same question myself!