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In season 1 episode 8 of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Miyuki's sister Kei and Chika say to each other 'konnichi sappo'. (A YouTube video showing the scene)

What does this mean?

Aki Tanaka
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BCLC
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    Guess: konnichiwa (hello) mixed with "wassup" = konnichi sappo. But the subtitle is not helping. Why it says "Hello, _my sis_"? – Fumikage Tokoyami Mar 31 '22 at 10:46
  • @FumikageTokoyami oh thanks. didn't notice that. in the subs in my copy of the episode it really just says 'konnichi sappo'. aaahhhh 'sappo' is like from the 'sup' in 'wassup' !?!?!??! – BCLC Mar 31 '22 at 11:06
  • @FumikageTokoyami Update: what do you think of Andrew's answer please? 'it's unlikely to be interpreted as "wassup" since it would have been written as katakana instead for loan word, not a particular kanji that has a specific meaning. And it should have been pronounced as (wa)sappu or (wa)zappu with 'u' instead of 'o'. – Aki Tanaka♦' – BCLC Apr 01 '22 at 06:43
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    Unfortunately, I am not a speaker of Japanese language. So, that was just my hunch. Anyways, Aki's answer looks correct, so +1 to him (and to your question too). – Fumikage Tokoyami Apr 03 '22 at 03:16
  • @FumikageTokoyami Good hunch. My personal take is that it's double entendre, so you're both right. – BCLC Apr 03 '22 at 11:51

1 Answers1

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It is kind of difficult to translate/give this expression a meaning since it is a self-created introduction, but...

Based on the original manga, the wording is こんにち殺法 (konnichi-sappou), a portmanteau of こんにちは (konnichiwa) + 殺法 (sappou), which then is replied with こんにち殺法返し, a portmanteau of konnichiwa + sappou + 返し (-gaeshi).

According to Jisho, sappou means "way of murdering; killing method; way of using a sword" while kaeshi (read as -gaeshi here) means reversal; return. 〇〇-sappou is often used as a killer technique name, while adding -gaeshi to it means the counter for such technique.

Usage of sappou used in this way is kind of rare. 円月殺法 (engetsu sappou) was a popular technique coined by Renzaburō Shibata in his novel series Nemuri Kyoshiro (a YouTube video demonstrating the technique in real-life competition). On the other hand, the usage of -gaeshi is more common, as can be seen in Judo techniques.

So, if trying to give meaning to these expressions, then perhaps "die to/with hello!" and "counter to/with hello!" might be suitable...

Aki Tanaka
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  • Thanks Andrew. Based on what Fumikage Tokoyami, is 'sappo' perhaps like a double entendre or something: sappo as in sword and sappo as in wassup(po) ? – BCLC Apr 01 '22 at 02:59
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    @BCLC it's unlikely to be interpreted as "wassup" since it would have been written as katakana instead for loan word, not a particular kanji that has a specific meaning. And it should have been pronounced as [*(wa)sapp**u*** or *(wa)zapp**u*** with 'u'](https://eibun.fenecilla.com/wassup/) instead of 'o'. – Aki Tanaka Apr 01 '22 at 04:46