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Comment by Dalewyn | Hacker News Reader

I think it needs to be mentioned that ワープロ (WorPro) is an abbreviation of ワードプロセッサー (Word Processor).

ワードプロセッサー is defined as a computer system capable of inputing, displaying, editing, saving, and printing text. This used to refer to dedicated word processing appliances, but from around the late 90s changed to refer to word processing software for personal computers which became more popular.[1][2][3]

The ワープロ馬鹿 phenomenon stems from IMEs automagically converting romaji/hiragana to kanji, and this is most commonly seen during use of word processors like Microsoft Word.[4]

[1]: https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3...

[2]: https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%97%E3%83%A...

[3]: https://gogen-yurai.jp/word-processor/

[4]: https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%83%AF%E3%83%BC%E3%83%97%E...

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ワープロ is a Showa-era (~ 1989) term. Almost no one born after that would’ve heard of it, let alone know what it is. For software, 文章作成ソフト, which translates to “document-producing software,” seems a bit more familiar. But the majority of people would just mention MS Word instead of using a more generic term.

The funny thing is that the word is in none of the Japanese dictionaries on weblio. Only Japanese-English ones.

If I had to take a guess as to why, it's probably because:

1. It's slang, so it's of more interest to foreigners who just want to make sense of what they hear compared to native speakers who wouldn't need a dictionary for this.

2. I've never heard any of my Japanese acquaintances actually call this phenomenon ワープロ馬鹿, they all say they've just been using computers too much (or handwriting too little) in their lives.

Counterpoint to 1: Until this word, I've never not found slang in Japanese dictionaries.

Edit: interestingly enough the most complete I found in Japanese about the word describes it differently:

かなり昔のことになるが、ワープロが普及しはじめた当時、ワープロの使い過ぎで正しい漢字が分からなくなることを「ワープロ馬鹿症候群」と呼ぶ、という話を聞いた覚えがある。例えば、ワープロで「あらり」を変換してみても、「粗利」なのか「荒利」なのか正しい漢字が分からないので結局は辞書で調べないといけない、といった具合の症状だ。 (https://xtech.nikkei.com/it/article/COLUMN/20070220/262584/)

Short rough reinterpretation: back at the time of electronic word processors, not knowing which of the homophones was the right one to use was called ワープロ馬鹿症候群

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