Lexicographers don't like to deal with dirty words. One can imagine this goes double in Japan, where public face is everything. Author Peter Constantine has dragged the culture's dirty undies into the streets of Tokyo with his sophomorically funny and informative _Japanese Street Slang_. Did you know that there are categories for describing penises in Japanese based on different roots and vegetables? This collection of naughty words and their raunchy usages offers insights into urban youth, drug and street culture, and the origins of everyday down-and-dirty Japanese cussing. He hitotsu wa kusuri sempuku ni makau. Translation: One fart is worth a thousand pills.
_Japanese Street Slang_, by Peter Constantine, $9.95. Tengu Books, 420 Madison Ave., 15th fl., New York, NY, 10017
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Japanese Street Slang
