New Dabuchi burgers arrive with new mascot.
Food often comes with a side order of linguistics in Japan, and McDonald’s Japan is serving up an extra-large helping with the introduction of their new anime girl-style mascot character. With her cheerful smile and red-and-gold attire, she immediately conveys a sense of youthful energy and fun. What takes quite a bit more time to convey, and comprehended, is her name.
So, without further ado, here’s Imadakedabuchitabemi!
If you’re thinking that’s a very long name, you’re not alone. Even by the Japanese language’s high-syllable-count standards, Imadakedabuchitabemi is a both-cheeks-stuffed mouthful, so let’s dig into the explanation behind it.
In principle, Japan is pretty much OK with adopting foreign loanwords, so on the McDonald’s Japan menu the chain calls its double cheeseburger “Double Cheeseburger.” However, because of the Japanese language’s limited number of consonant blends and lack of a terminal R sound, it gets pronounced as “Daburu Chiizubaagaa.”
Among fans, though, McDonald’s “Daburu Chiizubaagaa” is more commonly called by its abbreviated nickname, “Dabuchi.”
▼ The Double Cheeseburger / Daburu Chiizubaagaa / Dabuchi
As of October 23, though, McDonald’s Japan is also offering a pair of special burgers that officially use the Dabuchi monicker, the Garlic Onion Dabuchi and Kara (“Spicy”) Dabuchi.
▼ The Kara Dabuchi, seen on the right, was a personal favorite of Gundam anime antagonist Char Aznable.
These are both limited-time items, which is to say they’re available “now only,” or, to translate that designation into Japanese, ima dake, making them “ima dake Dabuchi” and giving us a large chunk of Imadakedabuchitabemi’s name.
So what about the “tabemi” part? Tabe comes from taberu, meaning “eat,” and the “mi” in Imadakedabuchitabemi’s, name is written with 美, the kanji character meaning “beautiful,” which is a common ending for women’s names in Japan. Tabemi also ends up sounding similar to tabetemite, meaning “try it” when talking about food.
Adding an extra layer of complexity is that usually no space is placed between a person’s family and given name when writing in Japanese, so it’s not clear whether Imadakedabuchitabemi is the character’s given name, or if her family name (which is said first in Japanese) is “Imadake,” “Imadakedabuchi,” or some other combination of syllables. So while Imadakedabuchitabemi’s visual design is getting a lot of thumbs up online, a lot of index fingers are being used to scratch heads at the same time, with comments such as:
“That name breaks my brain, but the character design is cute.”
“The naming is beyond lazy.”
“I like how she’s got a late ‘90s/early 2000s anime art vibe going with those oversized accessories.”
“It’s taking all of my mental capacity to try to parse that name.”
“If you think of her last name as ‘Imadakeda’ and her given name as ‘Buchitabemi’ [buchitaberu meaning “to gorge on”], she sounds really tough.”
“McDonald’s USA: ‘Donald Trump is working here today.’ Meanwhile, McDonald’s Japan: ‘Meet Imadakedabuchitabemi.’”
“I can tell that McDonald’s thinks that as long as there’s a cute girl, I’ll be satisfied. They are correct.”
In her debut tweet, McDonald’s Japan says that Imadakedabuchitabemi will only be around for a short while (even the badge on her jacket says 今, meaning “now”), but the mysteries of her name will likely linger even after she’s gone.
Source: Twitter/@McDonaldsJapan via IT Media
Top image: Twitter/@McDonaldsJapan
Insert images: McDonald’s (1, 2)
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