Garden-Variety Banking: Part 3
Friday, October 16th, 2009
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I don’t know much about banking, but I do know that a bank should inspire trust and confidence. The name of the bank has to be serious, a trustworthy brand in and of itself. My first bank account was at Annapolis Bank and Trust, where they put “trust” right in the name. Other banks go by the names of First Capital Bank, Enterprise National Bank, Premier Service Bank, Tomato Bank.
Tomato Bank?!
Yes, indeed. That’s what you find on Sawtelle Boulevard, a Los Angeles street filled with Japanese businesses:
No matter how silly the name may seem, bankers at Tomato Bank must consider the same serious matters as any garden-variety banker from, say, Zucchini Bank. And if the Tomato Bankers know any Japanese, they must bandy about words such as the following:
残高 (zandaka: (bank) balance; remainder) to remain + high
The use of 高 (taka(i): high) here intrigues me. Is the assumption that the balance is high?
残額 (zangaku: remaining amount; balance (of an account))
to remain + amount (of money)
残金 (zankin: remaining money) to remain + money
Sample Sentences About Banking …
払い残り (harainokori: balance due) to pay + remainder
This word is synonymous with 残額 but is casual and unlikely to appear in documents. One doesn’t even hear it that often.
By now, you will likely have noticed that all these words involve 残 (ZAN, noko(ru), noko(su): to remain), a kanji we’ve examined for the past few weeks. The first three words here feature its on-yomi, whereas 払い残り (harainokori) showcases the kun-yomi.
There are lots of types of remainders, from the unpoetic sort (e.g., remainders in long division and remaindered books) to the lyrically phrased “remains of the day.” Let’s explore remainders across the spectrum.
The following words are about concrete situations in which you remove part of something, and another part remains:
残り物 (nokorimono: remnant, scraps, leftovers)
remainder + thingThis can refer to any kind of remnant or leftovers.
残部 (zanbu: remainder, the rest) remainder + part
残量 (zanryō: remaining quantity, residual quantity)
remainder + quantity
残余 (zanyo: remainder, the rest, residue) remaining + surplus
All straightforward. Now we get to a more unexpected type of remainder:
残留 (zanryū: residue; staying behind) to remain + to stay
This is typically used in the phrase 中国残留孤児 (Chūgoku zanryū koji: China + country + to remain + to stay + solitary + child). These were Japanese children abandoned in China at the end of the war and brought up there. Typically, they weren’t true orphans (孤児: koji). A Japanese native tells me, “In most cases, the Japanese parents weren’t killed. Either they decided they couldn’t safely bring back the children with them back to Japan, or the parents and kids got separated in the confusion at the end of the war.”
What else can remain? Well, doubts can!
疑問が残る。
Gimon ga nokoru.
There are still some doubtful points.疑問 (gimon: doubt, question, problem)
doubt + question
You hear 疑問が残る in a variety of situations. In a press conference, a politician might go through the motions of responding to accusations while evading crucial points. A doctoral dissertation could be insufficiently conclusive. In these cases, critics would say 疑問が残る.
We find a final type of remainder in the natural world. Light, snow, heat, and things of that ilk can linger in the most sensual and beautiful of ways, as is the case with colorful sunsets. In such cases, a remainder and a reminder are nearly the same thing. In the Verbal Logic Quiz, you’ll find compounds about this very phenomenon. I hope the quiz provides lingering pleasure. If that’s not possible, I hope it doesn’t cause lingering pain!
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity |
October 17th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Hi Eva san,
Is this Tomato Bank as same as the one in Kurashiki, Okayama ken?
It would be fun if we find the banks whose names are Sweet Potato Bank in
Kagoshima, Potato Bank in Hokkaido, Grape Bank in Yamanashi, and Rice
Bank in Niigata.
October 17th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Don’t forget 残暑 which is invariably きびしい。
October 17th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Nice to get two comments, and on Day 1!
Steve: Yes, see the Verbal Logic Quiz!
We’re having quite a bit of 残暑 right now where I am, and it does indeed feel きびしい！
Noriji-san: Wow, there’s a Tomato Bank there, too?! But from what I see at the Wikipedia page about T. Bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_Bank), there isn’t a Japanese branch. Still, maybe there is! Or maybe someone else came up with the same name!
As to your proposed bank branch names, I’m a little confused. I thought you were doing kanji wordplay, in which case Yamanashi (山梨) should have Pear Bank. But maybe you’re focusing on the agricultural specialties of the various areas? Anyway, I’m all for it!
October 17th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Dear Eve,
I still remember long-ago days in Tokyo when Tomato “Silver Go” got its start. Thank you for an update, and the news that it has at least one branch overseas.
Incidentally, a Japanese friend of mine, also in days long gone, taught me the expression “One Six Bank,” aka “Ichi Roku Ginkou.”
Can you guess what that means?
Please see the next comment for the answer.
October 17th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
“Ichi Roku Ginkou” was a slang term for “shichi-ya” (pawnshop).
October 17th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Wow, all these comments! At first they seem mystifying, but then the clever twists become clear. Silver Go! I like it!
And I’m guessing that because ichi + roku = shichi, the pawnshop got its nickname??? But why would it be ginkou? I must still be missing something.
At any rate, here’s the kanji for pawnshop: 質屋 【しちや】 (n) pawnshop. Breaks down as “quality + shop,” which is surely a masterful act of puffery for a shop presumably full of low-quality stuff. (Or are Japanese pawnshops different?)
October 18th, 2009 at 3:33 am
I think japanese pawnshops are not different: 質 is usually read しつ (meaning quality), but when read しち, it has a rarer meaning (and use) of “hostage” (as in 人質（ひとじち）) or (here) “pawn, pledge” (as in 言質（げんち）= promise, pledge where 質 is read “CHI”), so no puffery here, I guess.
)
As for 高 (taka), usually used as a suffix (and so becomes “daka”), it means “quantity, amount” and often “amount of money” (e.g. 金高 (kindaka) = sum;
稼ぎ高 (kasegidaka) = earnings …not meaning that they are high
October 18th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Interesting points about 質 and 高.
Halpern confirms that the -高 suffix means “amount of money, total (proceeds), quantity,” but he also says the suffix can mean “indicating a rise in prices,” as in 物価高 (bukkadaka: high prices of commodities). He doesn’t indicate which category 金高 falls under, but you’re probably right that it’s “amount of money” here.
And he does say the same thing as you about 質 as “pawn” when read as SHICHI.
Good to know (not that I spend a lot of time discussing pawnshops in Japanese!).
October 19th, 2009 at 2:40 am
Back again. I was just reading a post a month ago when your remark about the etymology of 鮮 caught my attention. It seems that the sheep 羊 lends connotations of “fine, good” in some other kanjis:
美 beauty
祥 auspicious, good omen,happiness
善 goodness
義 righteousness
詳 detailed, accurate, well-informed
養 bring up, develop, nurture
鮮 fresh, vivid
I don’t know what or how ancient chinese people thought about sheep but it doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me. Maybe Henshall (or other books) has more to say about it but I don’t have it. Anyway, food for thought, I hope!
October 20th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Ah, a very interesting point. Here’s the scoop on those kanji, plus 羊 itself:
羊 (YŌ, hitsuji: sheep): Henshall says that as a component, this often lends connotations of “fine/praiseworthy,” since a sheep was a prized animal.
美 (BI, utsuku(shii): beauty): Combines “big” (大) and “sheep.” Henshall says a big (i.e., fat) sheep was highly prized and desirable. “Desirable appearance” eventually led to “beautiful” in a broad sense.
祥 (SHŌ, aki, saka: auspicious): This combines “altar” (the left-hand side) with “sheep.” Here, 羊 acts phonetically to express “auspicious” (sign) and may also lend connotations of “fine” or “sacrifice.”
善 (ZEN, ii: goodness): Again, 羊 is “fine/praiseworthy.” The rest means “to argue.” A “praiseworthy argument” or “fine debate” came to mean “fine” or “praiseworthy” in a broad sense.
義 (GI: righteousness): Combines “sheep” and “self” (我). Some scholars feel that “sheep” is used in its extended sense of “praiseworthy,” giving the idea of “being able to consider oneself praiseworthy” (i.e., through one’s righteousness). There are other interpretations, but in all of them 羊 lends the sense of “praiseworthy.”
詳 (SHŌ, kuwa(shii): detailed): Combines “word” (言) and “sheep.” Here, 羊 acts phonetically to express “examine thoroughly.” Maybe, says Henshall, this component also lends the sense that, as a prized object, a sheep would be examined carefully before a purchase. So the whole kanji means “to discuss with a view to examining thoroughly,” with that examination/discussion leading by association to “detailed.”
養 (YŌ, yashina(u): to bring up, develop, nurture). Combines “sheep” and “to eat” (食). Originally meant “to rear sheep for food.” Now means “to rear” in a broader sense.
So this last kanji is the only one in which “sheep” doesn’t seem to have glorified connotations, although maybe it does and Henshall simply didn’t mention that.
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:36 am
Mary Sisk Noguchi has written a great article about proposed changes to the Joyo set:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20091021mn.html
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Wow, thanks for the great answer (とっても詳しい !!) and the interesting article!
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:53 am
You’re welcome!