Thanks, I normally do that, more because it is cognitively easier than being polite. I honestly think it has more to do with my learning Spanish gender suffixes long ago, as this issue crops up in my daily life at times. If the word ends in ‘o’, I just gravitate to thinking of it as male.
I shall try to think of “-ko” as a feminine suffix. I’m looking at you, Kinko’s.
I shall try to think of “-ko” as a feminine suffix. I’m looking at you, Kinko’s.
Parsing it that way makes me think of “Kinko” as an incredibly cute name, especially if I interpret “kin” as a word—so “kinko” would mean something like “little female cousin” or “little sister” or something.
I’m obligated to point out the intrinsic risk of this way of thinking, as the uneducated can mistake the less common masculine suffix -hiko for a regular -ko. This is really the reason why romanization is such a travesty; none of this would have happened in beautiful kanji...
Thanks, I normally do that, more because it is cognitively easier than being polite. I honestly think it has more to do with my learning Spanish gender suffixes long ago, as this issue crops up in my daily life at times. If the word ends in ‘o’, I just gravitate to thinking of it as male.
I shall try to think of “-ko” as a feminine suffix. I’m looking at you, Kinko’s.
Parsing it that way makes me think of “Kinko” as an incredibly cute name, especially if I interpret “kin” as a word—so “kinko” would mean something like “little female cousin” or “little sister” or something.
Kin actually means gold/metal, so it would mean “gold child”, so golden girl! That would be adorable!
I didn’t know that “kin” was even a word in Japanese; I was parsing it as English. “Gold child” is adorable too!
I’m obligated to point out the intrinsic risk of this way of thinking, as the uneducated can mistake the less common masculine suffix -hiko for a regular -ko. This is really the reason why romanization is such a travesty; none of this would have happened in beautiful kanji...