Idiomatic meaning of "uwasa no"?

[Bill Tyler]

"Talk of the Town" puts "uwasa" in a meliorative light, which may be  
appropriate for Tora-san, depending on the content of the film. Likewise
with such expressions as  "wadai no otoko", or "toki no hito".

But often "uwasa" edges closely to the pejorative. Hence, "rumor,  
rumored"

How about "The Man/Woman in Question"? That allows for a degree of  
ambiguity in nuance.

All depends on the context, of course. wjt.

On Jun 25, 2007, at 9:30 AM, Michael Kerpan wrote:

> There are a number of films, that use "uwasa no" in their titles --  
> including Mizoghi's "Uwasa no onna" and Naruse's "Uwasa no  
> musume".  In both cases, the standard translation for "uwasa no" is  
> the clunky "of the rumor".  My guess is that "uwasa" in this case  
> is better translated as "gossip"  and "uwasa no" as something like  
> "gossiped about". I note that the translation for Yamada's "Otoko  
> wa tsurai yo: Uwasa no torajiro" is "Talk of the Town Tora-san" --  
> which w2ould seem to support my theory. ;~}
>
> Does any one here know of accurate, but more colloquial ways to  
> render "uwasa no" in English?
>
> Thanks
>
> Michael Kerpan
> Boston
>

William J. Tyler
Associate Professor, Japanese Language & Literature
Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures
Ohio State University
398 Hagerty Hall
1775 College Drive
Columbus, OH 43210-1340
USA

Telephone (direct) 614-292-3184

tyler.20 at osu.edu

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