Nihongo no Kokoro Part 128

Ketta

けった

This time around, I’d like to introduce you to a word that’s native to Nagoya, “ketta”. “Ketta” generally means “kicked” but in Nagoya, it’s also used to call a certain two-wheeled item that we ride. I’m pretty sure you’re able to guess what I’m talking about.

If you guessed bicycle, then you’d be right. It’s apparently called that because you need to kick the ground in order to give it first momentum and so people began calling it a “ketta machine.”

A university student from Nagoya I spoke with recently said she didn’t know the word, though. According to her, most of her peers don’t use the Nagoya dialect very much at all. Thanks to the widespread influence of TV, social media and streaming sites, Japan is well-connected as a whole so most are exposed to the standard Japanese that’s used in the Tokyo area, rendering the use of dialects an outdated and dying practice.

It‘s a pretty sad thing to think about.

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