http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoroawaseNumber

Just to show that there is more than wan way to say things.

Advertisement:

Numbers in Japanese don't have a single pronunciation: both kun'yomi (native Japanese) and on'yomi (Chinese-derived) readings are commonly used. Japanese speakers take advantage of these different phonetic readings, mixing them freely to produce mnemonic phrases to remember long numbers, such as phone numbers or entrance exam IDs. This device, called goroawase (wordplay), also can be reversed to convert many Japanese names or phrases into code numbers.

Goroawase numbers are read digit for digit, with each digit arbitrarily assigned a kun'yomi, on'yomi or Gratuitous English reading, often shortened to the first syllable or phonetically modified. Here is a list of digits and their possible readings:

0 零 ma(ru), o, re(i) 1 一 hi(to), i(chi), kazu, wan 2 二 fu, bu, pu, ni, tsu(u) 3 三 mi, sa(n), za, su(ri) 4 四 shi, yo(n) 5 五 go, ko, itsu 6 六 mu, ro(ku) 7 七 na(na), shichi 8 八 ha(chi), ba, pa, ya, e(ito) 9 九 ku, kyu(u) 10 十 to(o), juu . (decimal point) 点 ten

May overlap with Numerical Theme Naming.

A Super-Trope to One, Two, Three, Four, Go!, Seven Is Nana, Four Is Death.

See also Phone Word.

Advertisement:

Examples:

open/close all folders

Anime and Manga

Fan Works

Some Touhou fanworks give Gensoukyou the (postal or telephone) area code 890. (Ha-ku-rei) This comic (Possibly NSFW ads) shows off Cirno's math skills. To wit: 4 + 6 = Youmu

1 + 9 + 3 = Iku-san

0 + 6 = Reimu

3 + 9 + 8 = Sakuya Common examples are Patchouli's 69 (after her Verbal Tic, mu-kyu), Futo's 210, ("fu-to"), Koishi's 514 (often as the date 5/14) and Byakuren's 763 ("Namusan~").

Strangely, this is used in the Steven Universe fanfic Seeds Of Rebellion for gem designation numbers: Ruby and Sapphire's shared number is 8291 which can be read as hatsukoi (first love) if using the kokono reading of 9. Pearl String 24976 = tsuyoku naro (let's become strong).



Film - Live-Action

In Yojimbo, Sanjuro's Line-of-Sight Alias is a pun on his age of 36.

Advertisement:

Literature

In Fuse, book 2 from the Pure trilogy by Julianna Baggott, the heroine dreams she is counting with the words "Itchy knee. Sun, she go." It puzzles her at first, but these words turn out to hold the key to her missing memories of childhood in Japan.

Jokes

Rare Western example: Vinny the New Yorker is seeking a job and is very qualified. The potential boss cannot stand Vinny's very thick New York accent. So he is looking for an excuse to not hire him. The boss finally meets with Vinny in his office and says, "Okay, Vinny, we need people who can communicate very well. To test that, can show me the number nine in a way that doesn't use the symbol OR nine items?" Vinny thinks for a moment, takes a piece of paper and proceeds to draw on it. He hands back the paper and the boss looks at the paper and shakes his head, "Vinny, you just drew a forest. Why did you think that would make nine?." Vinny laughs, "You don't see it? I drew you a tree and a tree and a tree. As anyone knows, Tree (three) and Tree and Tree makes Nine." The boss is flustered but a little amused and hands the paper back, "Okay, Vinny, draw 99 without drawling any more trees." Again, Vinny things for a moment before he starts drawling on the paper. He hands it back to the boss, even quicker than the last time. The boss takes a look, shakes his head, and says, "Vinny, you just drew smudges on your trees. That can't be 99." Vinny laughs and says, "Well, imagine if New York Sanitation goes on strike. And the mayor, he doesn't want to give sanitation their money. So as the strike goes on, the city gets very filthy and gross. And if you go walk your dog in Central park, you'd see Dirty-Tree (Thirty-Three) and Dirty-Tree and Dirty-Tree. And that's 99." The boss is even more flustered, but so curious, he wants to try and get Vinny. "Okay Vinny, but without drawling Dirty Trees, can you show me 100?" Vinny takes the paper, quickly draws some thing on it and hands it back to the boss. "Okay, Vinny, how do these black blobs you drew by your dirty trees make 100?" Vinny smiles, "Well, I'm walkin' my dog in Central Park during a sanitation strike. And Rover, he ain't so well trained, you see. So the entire way to the park, he's been eatin' all of the garbage he can find on the side of the street. By the time we get there, Rover has a tummy ache and it's a bad one. So he walks up to one dirty tree, and does his business... but he still has a tummy ache so he goes to another dirty tree and does some more business and another one after that and now you have Dirty-Tree-and-a-Turd (33 and a Third) and Dirty-Tree-and-a-Turd (and Dirty-Tree-and-a-Turd and that makes a hundred."

Live-Action TV

Music

Vocaloid: One concert featuring Hatsune Miku was titled "39's Giving Day." "3 9" (as "three nine" rather than "thirty-nine") can be read either as "Miku" or a phonetic approximation of "Thank You" (sankyuu). '39' is something of an Arc Number in Vocaloid. Miku also has a song titled "39"; when it is featured in Project DIVA, the subtitles display it as "THANK YOU (39)" rather than kana or romaji. The Mind Screwy song Matryoshka, which many have tried to decipher the meaning of, twice mentions the number sequence "524" in English. In a bit of an example of playing with this trope, and keeping in line with the song's Mind Screwy nature , it's the omitted numbers in the sequence, 1 and 3, that hold the message: Imi, or "meaning"... Ergo, 1 and 3 are omitted because there is no imi/meaning in the song.

Japanese band Go!Go! 7188 loves to play with numbers as their name suggest, one of his albums is named 569, which is read as "Goroku" (Go Rock).

Video Games

Web Comics

In episode 245 of Not Quite Daily Comic a pun is made on the Kanji for 1, 2 being read like "itchy knee".

of Not Quite Daily Comic a pun is made on the Kanji for 1, 2 being read like "itchy knee". Related to the above, in Homestuck, member number 1 of the notorious billiard-themed gang The Felt is nicknamed "Itchy" (as in "ichi").

Real Life