I'm not sure if I can use 'naruhaya' with my superiors
Audrey—People abbreviate everything these days, don't they?
Hachi—Words like 'keitai' (mobile phone) or 'konbini' (convenience store) are no longer even considered abbreviations; it's as if they were called that from the start.
Audrey—Kimoi (gross), hazui (embarrassing), owakon (dead trend), pawahara (power harassment), taipa (time performance), shukatsu (job hunting), and so on.
Hachi—Lately, even drama titles are being chosen so they can be easily abbreviated to four characters. They say it's to make them easier to hashtag on social media. They even did that in the drama 'Futehodo'.
Audrey—They even abbreviate celebrities' names, too. The most famous one is Kimutaku!
Hachi—Even back in the Showa era, Ryotaro Sugi was called 'Sugiryo'. He captivated ladies all over the country with his sidelong glances, but now, when you think of disaster relief food service, you think of 'Sugiryo,' a.k.a. Sugi-sama. I take my hat off to him.
Audrey—When my niece was in high school, she'd talk about 'wearing two layers of tsukema (false lashes),' and I found it so strange that she couldn't just say the whole word. Ever since Kyary started singing about 'tsukema,' I don't have any resistance to it, though. Abbreviations have taken root in the business world, too. Like 'risuke' (reschedule) or 'naruhaya' (as soon as possible).
Hachi—'Naruhaya,' huh. In the Showa era, we used ASAP (As soon as possible). I wonder if people still use that, like 'Please do this ASAP.'
Audrey—About that 'naruhaya,' you really shouldn't use it with your superiors, right? Even though it's used as business jargon now, it's definitely not honorific language.
Hachi—Yeah, I think so too.
Audrey—I received a reply from someone I was emailing for work for the first time, and it said, 'naruhayathough it may be, please wait a little while,' and I felt really uncomfortable with it.
Hachi—Yeah, you shouldn't use 'naruhaya' there, right? And even though it means 'as soon as possible,' the actual implication is urgent, isn't it?
Audrey—It's not 'naruhaya' at all, then.
Today's word
Naruhaya
Meaning: Despite being an abbreviation for 'as soon as possible,' it implies 'top priority,' 'urgent,' or 'as soon as a moment allows.'
By the way, our view is that it is safer not to use naruhaya in emails or conversations with your boss.
