New word of the day: mokusatsu

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Dominic
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New word of the day: mokusatsu

Post by Dominic »

mokusatsu "'' •ir-suru, v. take no notice of; treat
(anything) with silent contempt; ignore [by keeping
silence]; remain in a wise and masterly inactivity.
-Kenkyusha's )/ew Japanese - English Dictionary,
p. 1129.

Words have multiple meanings. When they are translated, you should be sure to use the correct meaning...

I came across this today, and thought it worth sharing.

___________________

The story of how an ill-chosen translation of the Japanese word
mokusatsu led to the United States decision to drop the world's
first atomic bomb on Hiroshima is well known to many linguists.
But perhaps it would not be amiss to retell it briefly just in case
some reader of this essay is unfamiliar with the word-and in the
hope that readers may be inspired to avoid the two tragic linguistic
errors that the story points up.
In July of 1945 allied leaders meeting in Potsdam submitted a
stiffly-worded declaration of surrender terms and waited anxiously ·
for the Japanese reply. The terms had included a statement to the·
effect that any negative answer would invite "prompt and utter
destruction." Truman, Churchill, Stalin, and Chiang Kai-Shek
stated that they hoped that Japan would agree to surrender unconditionally and prevent devastation of the Japanese homeland
and that they patiently awaited Japan's answer.
Reporters in Tokyo questioned Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki
about his government's reaction to the Potsdam Declaration. Since
no formal decision had been reached at the time, Suzuki, falling
back on the politician's old standby answer to reporters, replied that
he was withholding comment. He used the Japanese word mokusatsu,
derived from the word for "silence." As can be seen from the dictionary entry quoted at the beginning of this essay, however, the
word has other meanings quite different from that intended by
Suzuki. Alas, international news agencies saw fit to tell the world
that in the eyes of the Japanese government the ultimatum was
"not worthy of comment." U. S. officials, angered by the tone of
Suzuki's statement and obviously seeing it as another typical example of the fanatical Banzai and Kamikaze spirit, decided on
stern measures. Within ten days the decision was made to drop the
atomic bomb, the bomb was dropped, and Hiroshima was leveled. [1]
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Cappielow1
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:46 pm

Re: New word of the day: mokusatsu

Post by Cappielow1 »

Very interesting, I didn't know any of that.
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