I think Kiyun is referring to お兄さん (big brother), not さん (as an honorific). Big brother is a literal translation, but kinda weird to use in English since people usually refer to their siblings by name.
I wonder if this some specifically Eastern European thing. I’m pretty sure languages like German or Swedish just use their local equivalents of man/mister or lady
well, Swedish children talk uses “tant” (lady) or “fröken” (miss) for women but “farbror” (paternal uncle) for men so it’s probably random for every language
It doesn’t surprise me the same convention is also used in Swedish since we share so much history and culture. It’s interesting you still use “miss.” Like 60 years ago even children would’ve used words like herra (mister/sir) rouva (mrs.) or neiti (miss) but those kinds of honorifics have basically disappeared entirely
I think Kiyun is referring to お兄さん (big brother), not さん (as an honorific). Big brother is a literal translation, but kinda weird to use in English since people usually refer to their siblings by name.
Nevertheless, their point about not translating is still often correct.
For instance, IIRC you can call middle aged adult men “uncle” even if they aren’t actually your uncle. I believe Chinese does this too.
Yep, men are oji-san, which is often shortened to ossan, women are oba-san, meaning uncle and aunt respectively.
Vaguely relatedly, in Finnish, the words setä (uncle) and täti (aunt) are used in children’s talk to refer to unfamiliar adult men and women
Same thing in Russian/Ukrainian.
I wonder if this some specifically Eastern European thing. I’m pretty sure languages like German or Swedish just use their local equivalents of man/mister or lady
IIRC, many Asian languages also have this thing, although I don’t remember which ones specificially.
well, Swedish children talk uses “tant” (lady) or “fröken” (miss) for women but “farbror” (paternal uncle) for men so it’s probably random for every language
It doesn’t surprise me the same convention is also used in Swedish since we share so much history and culture. It’s interesting you still use “miss.” Like 60 years ago even children would’ve used words like herra (mister/sir) rouva (mrs.) or neiti (miss) but those kinds of honorifics have basically disappeared entirely
TIL.
Interesting that there’s a similar concept in Finnish and other languages.
Even in the English-speaking world unrelated close adult family friends can sometimes get called uncles or aunts, no? 🤔
That’s kind of on the same wavelength
Yah. “Auntie” is especially common outside of WASP culture.
See, we are learning the nuanced this way. Turns out I don’t know it