Kyou no Nihongo: sugoi

Posted By Flori on Feb 21, 2007 | 3 comments

Sugoistuff won’t be sugoi if there isn’t any hint of Japan in it. It’s no secret that members of Team Sugoi were actually brought together by their common interest in Japanese culture (among others). The blog name says it all.

Anyway, as the resident Nihongo “expert” in Team Sugoi, I had to volunteer to do this series of posts on Japanese words and expressions. Just very simple definitions and usages. The posts won’t really assure you survival in Japan, and I don’t really plan to make a grammar book out of this venture. However, I hope that it gives you an idea of what the words mean and certain contexts where they can be used.

NOTE: Be sure that you have Asian language support for your browser to view the characters.

Today’s Japanese word:
SUGOI
adjective

Kanji:
??

Hiragana:
?????

Simple Definitions:
Wow!
Astig!
Grabe!

Usages:

You see John Petrucci , Joe Satriani , and Steve Vai playing guitar like crazy during a G3 tour. What do you say?
SUGOI!
Wow! I wish I could play like that!
Astig, pare! Galeng!

You see a well-endowed chick sashaying a few feet away from you. What do you say?
SUGOI!!!
Hot d*! Look at those –
Astig, pare! Tignan mo yung ano niya!

You come out of a hurricane shelter and see trees, various debris, and roofs (with rubber tires still intact) strewn all over the street. What do you say?
SUGOI… (said with disbelief)
Oh my!
Grabe…

You hear that Manny Pacquiao is running this coming May election. What do you say?
SUGOI! (with varying degrees of disdain and disgust)
*Toot!!!*

Props to Jim Breen’s WWWJDIC for the definition, particularly this page.