Okay, guys.

[snarp]

There are some little windows in the classroom so the parents can watch classes from the waiting area. Obviously, when there are other kids out there, they come over to the windows and wave and pop up and down like prairie dogs and so forth.

So the other day Mr. Yodeler was in the classroom, and Mr. Weepy was outside waiting for the teacher for his other class to show up. Mr. Weepy came over and knocked on the window. Mr. Yodeler walked over to it, looking very solemn. They both pressed their noses up to it and kissed through the glass. Then they giggled, and loudly proclaimed one another to be “baragumi.”

I know that “bara,” which means “rose,” is used as a term for gay guys - I mean, that part of the whole interaction seems pretty clear - but I’m not sure about the “gumi” part. According to my dictionary it just means “group,” but I think I’ve only ever heard it used referring to military and police units. When I google for this in romaji I get stuff about the anime Sakura Taisen, which does, in fact, use the term to describe a (deeply offensive-sounding) all-gay military unit. But I don’t think a couple of four-year-olds are likely to have seen this show, since 1) the art makes it look kind of porny, and 2) Sleep-san liked it, which probably means it’s both kind of porny and too complicated for little kids. I could be wrong? Anyway, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to ask the manager to clarify this one for me. His sense of humor can be somewhat lacking.

(The first google result in Japanese is somebody’s Second Life store, and I am deeply unimpressed by those dresses.)

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

Comments

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Mmm... a friend of mine noted that this might be that it's actually 'kumi' that was voiced as 'gumi', and that kindergartens and such often have a single class that can be split up as 'flower groups' within a class (like "sakura gumi" (cherry class), "yuri gumi" (lily class), "sumire gumi" (violet class) and certainly "bara gumi" (rose class)).

So she felt that you got the meaning correct, i.e. they're making a four-year-old reference about being part of the 'gay' class/grouping, but with only the mild implications of that, not the further implications from your research. Maybe try it with 'kumi' instead of 'gumi'?

[snarp]

That would make sense! I remember reading about the flower groups in some manga, actually, I'd just never heard actual real-life kids mention them before.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Mmm... yeah, I have no idea what your real world situation is and all this is second hand by me... so... *laughs* Sorry... but it intrigued me so I asked.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what you/your friend said, and then I'm sure that lends itself to general teasing for both bara-gumi and yuri-gumi. Fr'ex, there's a crappy "lesbian" fan-service manga anthology that I read a review of that was called "Yuri-gumi."

[snarp]

I googled that thinking "I will bet a million dollars that the disparaging review was by Erica Friedman," and the top result was a disparaging review by Erica Friedman. Is that the review you read? So I know whether Google owes me a million dollars, you understand.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHA.

I should have said "apparently crappy" to start out with, having never read it; I had so much trouble writing those two sentences up there. (I slept in today and I sure hope it helps.)

And yes. I ran across it on the Yuricon or yuri-manga MLs to start out with, and when double-checking my memory, that's the same website I saw. Ergo, Google totally owes you ONE MILLION DOLLARS. (I always make these bets with myself, but I bet things like "a cream cheese and jam sandwich," or I would if I were in Japan. :P But if you can make good on this one, it'll be worth it. Bwahahaha!)