When the "rebellious" type characters in manga/anime refer to older characters as "old geezers" I can't help but giggle, because it's such an old fashioned phrase! I can't be the only one who thinks it's silly, can I?

Is that the English dub or the subtitles? It could be that whatever Japanese word they're using just doesn't have a direct translation and that's the closest word or even the one with the closest feel. A word that means old person, but in a rude, not-respectful way.

The one that really gets me is when characters call others "hage" which is always translated as baldy, and they have hair. They're not bald, but they're being insulted as baldies. Makes no damn sense to me. Baldy isn't even the worse thing you can call them.

Originally Posted by For-Chan Cookie

Is that the English dub or the subtitles? It could be that whatever Japanese word they're using just doesn't have a direct translation and that's the closest word or even the one with the closest feel. A word that means old person, but in a rude, not-respectful way.

The one that really gets me is when characters call others "hage" which is always translated as baldy, and they have hair. They're not bald, but they're being insulted as baldies. Makes no damn sense to me. Baldy isn't even the worse thing you can call them.

I'm referring mainly to manga, in this instance, but it does appear in dubbed anime as well. I just thought "old geezer" was a really silly phrase, to be honest XD

Well...from what I could find after Googling 'hage', the Kanji '禿' does mean 'bald'...I guess it's kind of like the old geezer bit? Where they're just bantering or something but not mean it literally?

Originally Posted by Antagonist

Well...from what I could find after Googling 'hage', the Kanji '禿' does mean 'bald'...I guess it's kind of like the old geezer bit? Where they're just bantering or something but not mean it literally?

Let me give an example:

In the manga Hana to Akuma - the translated version - one of the MC's refers to another character which is older than him as an "old geezer". That's what he always refers to him as. I honestly didn't expect it to get this technical, I just thought it was kind of silly!

And, I suppose it could pop up in banter, but I meant when they just generally refer to those older than them as "old geezer".

Hmm...not being a native speaker of Japanese, I can't really say. I suppose the Chinese translation equivalent to it would be something like '老頭' (old man)...? I haven't read manga in Chinese in so long though! Been reading online scanlations on mostly English websites way too much. ;;