Meaning of Kusa(草)
草 is a Japanese internet slang and means “lol”.
This word is born at the most famous internet forum.
In the interest forum, they used “(藁)” as “lol” long time ago. That pronunciation is “wara” (in Japanese “warau” means laugh or smile.) but this kanji means straw not laugh or smile.
After “(藁)” they started to use “w” because “w” is the first character of “wara. Yes, it’s just omitted.
Sometimes it’s used like this “wwww”. The more “w” there are, it means more laughable.
Recently “w” is becoming common word, but if you want to use this you should read the atmosphere. because there are still internet slang. More formal word than “w” is “(笑)” so it’s safety to use this . (But I think most safety way is don’t use both “w” and “(笑)” till someone use.)
Then, finally I can explain about “草”! (This kanji means grass.) Origin of “草” is “w”. Why? Look at this.
wwwwwwwwwww
Does it looks like grass? Look as a picture.
Before we use “草” we used “草はえる”. It means “grow grass” and we still use “草はえる” too on internet.
[addition: Dec 8th, 2020] This word is a still popular slang. So, you can still use this.
Example Conversation (on chat)
A: Listen! Tanaka overslept again!
B: Really? Again? Hilarious!w
A: And he came to office with his mother!
B: 草. We can’t avoid to laugh a lot.
A: 聞いて！田中がまた寝坊したらしいよ！
B: マジで？ また？ うけるんだけどw
A: しかもお母さんと来たらしいよ!
B: 草。大草原不可避だな。
—-
[Addition : Aug 14th, 2020]
This expression “大草原不可避” is already out of date.
These days, most popular way to use “草” is maybe “～すぎて草(～sugite kusa)”
“～Sugite” means “too ~”.
If you want use this, use like this.
あほすぎて草(aho sugite kusa)
あほ(aho) means stupid, so it means “It’s funny because it’s so stupid”.
Here because i can’t understand what those vtuber saying, lol.
Thanks for the explanation!
You’re welcome!
I just heard a VTuber say that too, and I was wondering what it was. Thanks for solving this problem for me!
You’re welcome! Enjoy my blog!
Big Kusa!
Yeah, Kusa!
if you want to use air as air to read, I think you should use atmosphere. i hear this word is more naturally
Thank you for your advice! I changed it!!
If you address this topic, why don’t you mention ” A Midsummer Night’s Lewd Dream (Manatsu no Yo no Inmu)”?
This article is too incomplete.
Isn’t it too bold a simplification to say that it is derived directly from “w” to “grass”?
Ignoring this context means missing out on “A Midsummer Night’s Lewd Dream” that actually occupies a large place in Japanese Internet culture. And without “A Summer’s Night Lewd Dream”, we cannot talk about the post-2010 Internet language in Japan.
I really dont get the idea of how a word grass be interpreted as LOL in Japan.
I guess we have those kind of words like “Topkek” or “Wkwkwk” but .. grass?
Thanks for the explanation fellow degenerates!
Nic zycia jest mieszanym wloknem, dobro i zlo przewijaja sie razem. – William Shakespeare
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Even “大草原の小さな家” rarely appears.
“大草原の小さな家” is japanese title of “Little House on the Prairie”.
In that case, “大草原” means “large green meadow”.
If we think “大草原” as a slang…. It’s funny! I like it!
I’m Japanese.
Comment to addition. “～すぎて草” is one of the usage, but not main one.
I think just using “草” is the most popular way to use this word.
You can see tons of comment saying just one word “草” in almost all vtuber live.
I know. But please look at the date when I wrote and added.
Every time, especially slang, the meaning and the way of using is changing.
I can’t fix everything. What I can do is only emphasize the date when I wrote.
But thanks to you, people who read this comment can know about it! Thank you!
And maybe I add other memo about you mention later.
MERCIFUL
これ知ってる外国人はあんまおらんからおったらすげえってなる
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