NAMES FOR WOMEN Parasite single: Adult children–especially female–who still live with their parents, spending most of their income on frivolous purchases for themselves
Three meals and a nap: How salarymen describe their wives’ carefree lives
Christmas cake: Young women over 25 who have passed the prime age for marriage. Christmas cakes are sold in Japan until Christmas day. After that the cakes aren’t worth much.
Old mountain hag: Young woman with suntan-colored face, dyed hair with white streaks, silver-colored lips and whitish eye shadow. The look: proud to be ugly and scary.
NAMES FOR MEN Oversize trash: A useless retired husband. Reference: Japanese must pay extra to have large unwanted items hauled away to the dump.
Wet leaves: Likewise, a homebound husband who, like wet, sticky leaves, can’t be swept from the house.
My home papa: A derogatory reference to a man who pays too much attention to his family (and can’t go out with the boys for drinks).
Thousand yen husband: A man who is a victim of his wife’s tight purse strings. He’s allotted 1,000 [yen] a day (about $10) for lunch, cigarettes and other minor necessities.
