JAPLISH

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JAPLISH, also Japalish, Janglish. Informal terms, often wry, sometimes pejorative, for any mixture of Japanese and English. They may refer to Japanese spoken or written with an admixture of English or to English that shows Japanese influence: ‘A great many Japanese speak English nowadays (or at least “Japlish”, as the American colony calls it)’ (Harper's Magazine, Jan. 1963); ‘Japanese sometimes sounds like Japlish: masukomi for mass communications, terebi for television’ (Time, 22 July 1966). A significant aspect of Japlish is the use of thousands of adapted English words in daily speech and writing: for example, dokutā sutoppu (‘doctor stop’), a physician's prohibition on certain activities, such as smoking; Bajin Rodo (‘Virgin Road’), the title of a best-selling novel, referring to the aisle a bride walks down in church. See GAIRAIGO.