In our last article on Japanese internet slang, we covered 10 slang expressions that you might encounter online. Today, let’s take a look at another 10 slang words, this time focusing on social media—especially Twitter and Instagram, which have high Japanese user bases.
1. いいね (like)
In Japanese conversation, いいね (iine) means “that’s good” or “that’s nice.” On social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, this expression was adopted as the translation for “like.”
However, unlike the word “like” in English, いいね does not function as a verb on its own. You need to append the helper verb する (suru) and turn it into いいねする in order to use it as a verb. The example below features the verb いいねする, conjugated into passive and past tense:
いいねされた数だけ好きなキャラを描く
iine sareta kazu dake suki na kyara wo kaku
For every like I get, I’ll draw one of my favorite characters
There is also another word for “like” on social platforms: ファボ (fabo), which comes from the English word “favorite.” ファボ is an older term that originates from the old “favorite” button on Twitter, which existed between 2006-2015 before it was removed in favor of likes.
These days, the words いいね and ファボ are pretty much interchangeable, so feel free to use either or both!
2. リプ欄 (replies section)
Here’s a useful word for the folks who like to reply to posts on social media. リプ (ripu) is short for リプライ (ripurai, “reply”), and 欄 (ran) means “section,” so altogether リプ欄 (ripuran) means “replies section.”
リプ欄に続きます↓
ripuran ni tsuzukimasu ↓
Continued in the replies ↓
A related word is コメ欄 (komeran), which is short for コメント欄 (komento ran), and it refers to comment sections on sites such as ours!
質問があったら、コメ欄に書いてくださいね！
shitsumon ga attara, komeran ni kaite kudasai ne!
If you have any questions, drop them in the comments!
3. クソリプ (offensive/irrelevant reply)
While we’re on the subject of replies, クソリプ (kusoripu) is a handy word to know as well. クソリプ, which can be literally translated as “shitty reply,” refers to any reply on your posts that are offensive or irrelevant. Bonus points if the replies are from strangers who do not understand the point of your post or know who you are!
4. FF外失 (sorry for tweeting at you even though we don’t know each other)
This Twitter-specific expression is a doozy! FF外失 (efu efu gaishitsu) is short for this longer expression:
FF外から失礼します
efu efu gai kara shitsurei shimasu
Excuse me [for tweeting at you, replying to you, etc.] even though neither of us follow each other.
Let’s break that down:
- FF: following or follower
- 外: outside
- から: from
- 失礼します: excuse me; sorry (that I’m doing something rude)
So when do you use FF外から失礼します and FF外失? People say it as a polite expression when they’re replying to or mentioning a stranger on Twitter, especially if they fear they’re being intrusive.
However, don’t mistake FF外から失礼します to be a greeting that you must use on Japanese Twitter. While the phrase most likely developed from a general disdain for causing other people trouble in Japanese culture, Japanese Twitter users do not all use FF外から失礼します. Some folks even find it a little strange to use it because Twitter is by nature an open platform.
Speaking of polite expressions, another one you might see on Twitter, especially in bios, is 無言フォロー失礼します (mugon forō shitsurei shimasu), which means, “Sorry if I follow you without saying anything (to introduce myself)”. Again, Twitter is an open platform, so there’s no general expectation to introduce oneself when following someone on Twitter, but some people like to say this in their bio regardless!
5. インスタ映え (Instagrammable)
Let’s switch gears from Twitter for a moment and talk about an Instagram-inspired term. インスタ (insuta) is short for インスタグラム (insutaguramu, “Instagram”), and 映え (hae) roughly means “attractiveness.” These combined form the word インスタ映え (insutabae), which means “Instagrammable,” i.e., describing something that would look good in Instagram. Note that the h in hae turned into a voiced b consonant when used here as a suffix.
インスタ映え 間違い無しのカービィ綿あめwww
insutabae machigainashi no kaabii wataame
this cotton candy kirby is so instagrammable loool
I should mention another term that spawned from インスタ映え: インスタ蠅 (also read insutabae). インスタ蠅 replaces 映え (attractiveness) with the homonym 蠅 (fly, the insect), and it’s an insult that refers to people who are too obsessed with getting likes on social media.
6. 飯テロ (food porn)
Since we’re talking about Instagram, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention the word 飯テロ (meshitero). This term literally translates to “food terrorism”—in other words, terrorizing people by posting tantalizingly delicious photos of food. An equivalent expression that some people use in English is “food porn.”
So if you want to see tasty pictures of food, go search for the hashtag #飯テロ on Instagram or Twitter!
7. バズる (go viral)
The word バズる (bazuru) is a combination of バズ (bazu, “buzz”) and the verb ending る (-ru). It means “go viral,” or alternatively, “make a buzz (on the internet).” It’s a very useful word to know!
バズったので宣伝します！
bazutta node senden shimasu!
This (tweet) blew up, so let me plug some of my own stuff!
8. リムる (unfollow/unfriend)
Another word that uses the common “loanword + る” pattern found in Japanese slang, リムる (rimuru) originates from the English word “remove,” and it means “remove (someone) on social media.” Depending on the platform, リムる might correspond to “unfollow” or “unfriend.”
You’ll often see リムる used in the passive form リムられる (rimurareru), which expresses the pain and sadness of being unfollowed:
◯◯にリムられた（泣）
◯◯ ni rimurareta
◯◯ unfollowed me T__T
9. なう (now)
Here’s yet another slang expression that comes from English. なう (nau) means “now,” but it’s used in a very particular way on social media: you stick it onto the end of an expression to describe what you’re doing now.
近くのコンビニなう
chikaku no konbini nau
at the nearby convenience store rn
Fun fact: there’s a related word わず (wazu, “was”). You use it in the exact same way as なう, but it indicates something you did earlier, rather than now. Usually, the poster will include photos of what they did.
One final note about なう and わず is that, for whatever reason, they’re most commonly written in hiragana and not katakana, even though they are technically loanwords from English.
10. 🥦する
Just like in our previous article, I’d like to end today’s list with a fun, quirky slang expression. 🥦する is an expression that I learned about only recently on Twitter. Can you guess what it means? Here’s an example:
一回リプしたら、すぐ🥦されたw
ikkai ripu shitara, sugu 🥦 sareta
If you guessed “block,” then you’d be right! The broccoli emoji 🥦 is substituting for ブロック (burokku, “block”) because of the similarity in sound: 🥦 is pronounced ブロッコリー (burokkorii) in Japanese. In fact, this sort of substitution is not unlike the ateji examples we saw in the last article, where kanji like 垢 (aka) and 鯖 (saba) are used in place of the words “account” and “server.”
一回リプしたら、すぐ🥦されたw
ikkai ripu shitara, sugu burokku sareta
I replied and got blocked immediately lol
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