"Obamu" New Japanese Verb Gaining Popularity

by Frank Liao | October 29, 2009 at 03:44 pm

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Bill Sakovich's Ampontan blog had an entry about a new Japanese word "Obamu", named after President Obama. It's being used as a verb that basically means to push ahead with your convictions even though it appears likely that you will probably fail.

Here is the definition given on his blog:

obamu: (v.) To ignore inexpedient and inconvenient facts or realities, think “Yes we can, Yes we can,” and proceed with optimism using those facts as an inspiration (literally, as fuel). It is used to elicit success in a personal endeavor. One explanation holds that it is the opposite of kobamu. (拒む, which means to refuse, reject, or oppose).