i tell c: Tucker Report

Tucker's episode notes (including name pronunciation/meaning) for our Red Sprite episode

NOTES

What does the title mean?

• Just written in syllables in katakana (“Aiterushii”), so no real hints there.
• ”Aite” can mean partner (as in like a detective’s partner). There’s also the verb phrase “Aishiteru,” which means “I love you.”
• My guess is that the title is a play on both of these words (with the syllables in “I love you” mixed up so that it contains “aite”), but syllables portrayed by their English homonym equivalents (“C” is pronounced “shii” in Japanese, since “sii” isn’t a a sound combo that exists in the language).
• Note about older/younger twin thing  (think it came up before, but it’s a good refresher):
  • Referring to twins as being an older/younger sibling is normal in Japan, and most likely as well as most of East Asia. This is because in cultures influenced by Confucianism, an individual’s role in a family and their relationship/duty to other family members, especially on the basis of age, is very important, rigid, and ritualized.
  • Older-younger sibling relationships are a huge deal, especially those of the same gender (think of it as an in-family version of the senpai-kouhai relationship). The older sibling is expected to protect and be a role-model to their younger sibling, while the younger sibling is supposed to trust and look up to their elder sibling. There is intense cultural pressure to conform to this model. In fact, there is no generic word for “brother” or “sister” in Japanese...As far as I know, you always have to call someone an elder/younger brother/sister. Also, the words for pairs of “brothers” and “sisters” are written as olderbrother-youngerbrother and oldersister-youngersister respectively.
  • Since this big bro-little bro dichotomy is so baked into Japanese culture and even the language, twins will almost always take on the elder/younger role depending on who came out of the womb first. Even if you’re a few minutes older, you’re still nii-san to your younger twin (who you would just refer to by their personal name).

AUTHOR:

稲岡和佐 Inaoka Kazusa

• Ee-nah-oh-kah Kah-zu*-sah
• Reminder that the sound usually represented by the Roman letter “u” is actually [ɯ̟], the open high back vowel. This means that the tongue is in the same position as pronouncing /u/ (Spanish and Italian /u/), but the lips remain unrounded.
• Characters
  • 二月右近 Futatsuki Ukon
    • The u sound in “tsuki” (moon) would most likely be whispered so it most likely be pronounced like “Futatsky”
    • See note about open u above
    • Elder twin (see sibling note above)
    • “Futatsuki” means “two moons”
    • “Ukon” is written with the kanji for “right” and “near”
    • Reminder that the “o” never gets an “ah” sound like our first instinct would be to pronounce it as English speakers (the “kon” is closer to “cone” in English than “con”)
  • 二月左近 Futatsuki Sakon
    • Younger twin
    • “Sakon” is written with the kanji for “left” and “near”....so yeah, the names definitely hammer home that they’re twins
  • Aioi Risa
    • 相生りさ
    • “Aioi” is four syllables! Ah-ee-oh-ee. Remember that there are no diphthongs in Japanese, so sounds like “I” and “oy” don’t exist! Or rather, they’re pronounced as two syllables.
    • “Aioi” means “developing together” and is also part of the term “aioi-musubi,” which is a decorative knot. Probably symbolic of her attachment to perps (and her kidnapper)
    • Risa is just syllables written with kana. Remember that “r” is closer to an “l” sound and that “sa” in a final position doesn’t get pronounced like “suh” but remains like “sah”