Tuesday, July 24, 2018

俺 and 僕 used as second person singular pronouns


I often see couples where the girl sometimes speaks to her boyfriend using 俺 as a 'you'.


Where does it come from?
Can other pronouns like 僕、私、あたし, etc. can be used the same way?



Answer




In a word: imitation.


Between couples, often men will refer to themselves as ore. A woman may refer to him (hence "you") by imitating his pronoun of choice. Often ore is not appropriate in various social situations, such as work. As such, some men may refer to themselves as boku. As a result, some people (both male and female), such as bosses (who may refer to themselves as ore), may refer to him (hence "you") by imitating the choice of his pronoun.


I cannot recall hearing it with regard to wata(ku)si or atasi. wata(ku)si, though, is rather unlikely since it could just as equally apply to either person, so the sense of imitation would be more difficult to catch.


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