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Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Also I'd argue kyōiku mama is not particularly derogatory but descriptive. Kyōiku simply means education. There are other terms like onibaba that refer to more fierce and literally demon-hags that nag their children about xyz. A woman might even describe herself as a kyōiku mama though no woman would describe herself as onibaba.

But this may have been added by a Japanese person with a different view.

edit: A lesbian friend of mine once said the term woman was often meant derogatorily. As in "That woman said..." This was only a few years after Bill Clinton's denials about sexual relations with Monica, so maybe that's what she was thinking of. I didn't ask what term she'd prefer.

I think Brave Story uses the term ijiwaru baba when MC's mother is forbidding him to see his beloved uncle, with whom she has a vendetta.

A lesbian friend of mine once said the term woman was often meant derogatorily. As in "That woman said..."

I think there's something to this, though I would say that "often" is overstating it. People will sometimes use "woman" as a form of address or even an interjection of frustration ("women!"), which does carry a hint of derogation. Of course, the word "man" sometimes gets used by women in the same way, so it's not a one way phenomenon.

Prefer "men of wo"?

kyōiku mama sounds like the Japanese equivalent of "tiger mom".

Probably, though associated mostly with a mom who closely curates schoolwork, what schools to apply for, study time, juku or cram schools, etc. I understand the Amy Chua version as much more all-encompassing (i.e. never allow your child unstructured free time, period.)