>Sarariman
I get using loan words when they have a different definition in the new language, but what's the difference between a sarariman and a salary man?
I get using loan words when they have a different definition in the new language, but what's the difference between a sarariman and a salary man?
The identity, uniform, and work ethic are all part of the package. It’s been a while since most big companies in the US could claim that kind of life-long career and mutual loyalty was likely or even desirable, but early IBM might be an apt comparison., down to the dress code, company songbook, and 40-year tenures for senior staff.
My explanation was trying for "understandable" but may have veered into "problematically over-simplified," not to mention insufficiently copy-edited.
Salaryman almost always refers to Japanese white collar.
However, it was known by English-speaking people who had been to Japan, or were somehow involved with Japan. But not yet mainstream English.
Probably most Americans' awareness of Japanese words came from a very long James Clavell historical novel amazingly many people read, as was still done back then, called Shōgun.
I recall a very bad movie in which a black gang leader insisted on being called Shōgun, for no apparent reason.
I think the other commenter referred to an unrelated TV show with a gang leader calling himself "a Shogun".
Yes, it was really very bad. But in a good way, and had Vanity in it, 1985. Between it and Buckaroo Banzai (which had its own timely Japanese connections, 1984) I would choose the latter mentioned, but we don't need to choose.
> ただしサラリーマン (salaryman) は元々和製英語であり、… 「サラリーマン」は和製英語であるが、後に欧米でも「"日本の"ホワイトカラーの会社員」を指す普通名詞（Salaryman）として浸透しつつある。
("But "salaryman" is originally a Japanese-invented English word [...] Though "salaryman" is a Japanese-invented English word, it has subsequently spread throughout the West as a way of referring to Japanese white collar workers.")
Though 大辞林 (one of the main dictionaries) does say "salaried man" in its definition, I'm not sure whether that proves that is the etymology (usually 和製英語 are noted differently but given that the term is used outside of Japan now they might just write it in a way that'd be understood even if it's not correct).
[1]: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%A9%E3%83%AA%E3...