Lexical Leavings

by Tom Gally

Many people--and some dictionaries--have noted that the word and concept 肩凝り are much more common in Japanese than the corresponding "stiff shoulders" in English. This is borne out by the Google hit counts:

肩凝り   about 32,300
肩こり   about 110,000
stiff shoulders   about 2,590

An opposite case is hypochondria, which is an everyday concept in English but not nearly as familiar in Japanese. Here are the Google counts:

hypochondria   about 33,500
hypochondriac    about 31,100
hypochondriacs    about 7,110
心気症    about 1,790
ヒポコンデリー    about 105

Whether the actual frequency of stiff shoulders and hypochondria is so different between Japan and English-speaking countries, however, is unclear.

(May 17, 2003)