Exactly as the title states, ぎっちょ is a word I learned from a local friend that I was told is a dialect word, and since I myself am left-handed (as is the friend who taught me the word), it became my default word for left-handed in Japanese (although I do understand 左利き). However upon looking it up in renshuu, it is tagged as (sensitive) - is there any particular historical or societal reason why? I've never seen anyone offended by it, but not all native speakers know the word.
I understand that some words tagged as (sensitive) are tagged in such a way because they're seen as discriminating, backwards, or old fashioned (in a negative sense), but I struggle to see how a word for left-handedness ends up in the same category.
from what i gathered from the dictionary entry is that it seems like a kind of slang, and one of those slangs that people could get offended by, but it happens enough to note, it’s like me saying a slightly derogatory racial term(ei blacky, not a slur but in some cases derogatory) i think it’s like that but with left handed people
this is just a guess, i actually have never heard of this word before
The label comes from jmdict. For what it’s worth, Wiktionary also labels ぎっちょ derogatory. It’s not a word I’m familiar with, but from what I can tell, it’s from an old children’s game called 毬杖 (although that might not be the same word).
The label comes from jmdict. For what it’s worth, Wiktionary also labels ぎっちょ derogatory. It’s not a word I’m familiar with, but from what I can tell, it’s from an old children’s game called 毬杖 (although that might not be the same word).
Japanese Wiktionary also references 左義長.
Thank you for this! I was initially confused because Wiktionary (the Japanese version) does not label ぎっちょ as derogatory, but then I checked the English version and it does. This has in some ways left me with more questions than answers, but everything I've seen corroborates the origin with the game you've mentioned. From Japanese origins of the word and the descriptions (in Japanese) I've just seen, I still can't see where the derogatory label comes from. Nonetheless your response is appreciated and has given me things to dig deeper into.
After some more thorough reading on Japanese forums I appear to have found a roundabout answer:
The media considers it discriminatory, likely because when used in the game from which it originated, it is associated with dirty hands (thus an unpleasant image.) It is often censored from broadcasts.
Left-handed people were historically often forced to switch to using their right hand to write with, so it is associated with (historical) discrimination.
The mere fact that it refers to a minority seems to cause many people to see it this way, but for the most part this is not members of the minority in question (left-handed people.)
However, from left-handed people I have known and in the forums I've read, it seems many left-handed people are not bothered by the term and often use it for themselves. In the modern day, there are no major disadvantages to being left-handed either, and the practice of enforcing right-handedness has been gone for a significant period of time now.
