Questions from Students (Onomatopoeia)

I received a question after class.

Student: Teacher, you said earlier that 'buni-puni' is used for a baby's cheeks, but is it used here too? (while touching their upper arm)

Me: Ah! Yes, it is. It is! (while I also pinched the flesh of my upper arm)

Student: Oh, I see.

Me: You know that well. Using it here. (while touching my upper arm) Where did you learn that?

Student: On Instagram.

Me: Oh, Instagram. So you're learning new words on Instagram.

Student: Yes, an Indian woman said, 'I've gained weight recently, and this part is puni-puni~.' (while touching her upper arm)

Me: (laughs) She said that in Japanese?

Student: Yes. In Japanese!

Me: That's amazing. Your Japanese is great!

Student: Really. That's why I thought puni-puni had a negative meaning.

Me: I see. As I said in class, puni-puni is used for things that are soft and elastic. It's good for baby cheeks, but it's certainly used here too. (while touching my upper arm) Thank you for asking!

Before I knew it, we had been talking the whole time while touching the flesh of our upper arms.

Advanced students are not satisfied with just the example sentences in textbooks and dictionaries. Today's question was quite stimulating.

Hearing another teacher say, 'I think we also use "puyo-puyo" for upper arms,' made me realize once again the vast number and difficulty of onomatopoeia.

Thank you for reading this far.
See you in the next note.
(Image: Generated with Bing Image Creator)

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