Genki Japanese and Culture School - What the heck does 'Pacman' mean, anyway?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Genki Japanese and Culture School - What the heck does 'Pacman' mean, anyway?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GenkiJACS Japanese School\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/genkijacs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-09-22T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/\",\"name\":\"Genki Japanese and Culture School - What the heck does 'Pacman' mean, anyway?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-09-22T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-09-22T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg\",\"width\":150,\"height\":150},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What the heck does ‘Pacman’ mean, anyway?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"GenkiJACS Japanese School\",\"description\":\"The latest news from Genki Japanese and Culture School\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Genki Japanese and Culture School - What the heck does 'Pacman' mean, anyway?","description":"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Genki Japanese and Culture School - What the heck does 'Pacman' mean, anyway?","og_description":"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan","og_url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/","og_site_name":"GenkiJACS Japanese School","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/genkijacs","article_published_time":"2006-09-22T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/","url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/","name":"Genki Japanese and Culture School - What the heck does 'Pacman' mean, anyway?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg","datePublished":"2006-09-22T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2006-09-22T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/20060920-pacmanhat.jpg","width":150,"height":150},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/what-the-heck-does-pacman-mean-anyway\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What the heck does ‘Pacman’ mean, anyway?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/","name":"GenkiJACS Japanese School","description":"The latest news from Genki Japanese and Culture School","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

\n<\/div>\n

| <\/p>\n

$\"Pacman$
Just a short post today, but a golden piece of trivia: Did you know that the name Pacman comes from Japanese? In Japanese the \u64ec\u97f3\u8a9e (giongo, onomatopoeia) \u30d1\u30af\u30d1\u30af (paku paku) means to eat in big bites, or to eat quickly. So \u30d1\u30af\u30de\u30f3 (pakuman) is someone who eats fast without chewing much!<\/p>\n

Example sentence: \u663c\u4f11\u307f\u306f\uff13\uff10\u5206\u3057\u304b\u306a\u3044\u3051\u3093\u3001\u307f\u3093\u306a\u6bce\u65e5\u30d1\u30af\u30d1\u30af\u3068\u98df\u3079\u308b\u3002
Hiru yasumi wa san juppun shika nai ken, minna mainichi paku paku to taberu.
We only have a half hour for lunch, so everybody gulps their food down.
Breakdown:
\u663c\u4f11\u307f: hiru yasumi, lunch time. Literally, \u201cmidday rest\u201d
\uff13\uff10\u5206\u3057\u304b\u306a\u3044: san juppun shika nai. Literally, \u201cthere is only 30 minutes\u201d
\u3051\u3093: ken. A hakata-ben (link to hakata-ben intro) word meaning \u201cso\u201d, an informal replacement for \u201c\u306e\u3067\u201d (node)
\u307f\u3093\u306a\uff08\u306f\uff09: minna (wa), everybody. As this is an informal spoken sentence, the particle \u306f (wa) can be omitted.
\u6bce\u65e5: mainichi, every day
\u30d1\u30af\u30d1\u30af\u3068\u98df\u3079\u308b: paku paku to taberu, gulp one\u2019s food down. As with a lot of \u64ec\u97f3\u8a9e, it\u2019s connected to a verb by the particle \u3068 (to). In this way, it functions basically the same as an adverb in English. So, a direct translation would be something like \u201cto eat hastily\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u30d1\u30af\u30d1\u30af can also often be seen in manga, as the written sound effect for a person chewing hungrily.
So now you know, it’s not just a goofy name for a little yellow ball, it’s actually the Japanese equivalent of calling him \u2018Gobbleman\u2019!
Still doesn’t explain why Ms. Pacman wasn’t just called Pacwoman, though…<\/p>\n

And for those of you who are wondering, the pic above is plundered shamelessly from National Console Support Inc.<\/a>, proud retailers of the Naruto v2.0 plushy, among many other fine products…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"