こんにちわ〜 everyone! 
Today we will be talking about DQN, a slang/insult that you would see a lot on the internet.
Hmm that just seems like an English abbreviation and doesn’t seem Japanese, but yes it is, we like to make acronyms for absolutely anything, like YDK, TKG, TKMK, YKTR, etc.
DQN? WTH? 
Before we get into it, how is it even read?
DQN is read as ドキュン! Although there is no set meaning, it is used to refer to people with certain kinds of characteristics.
So what are the characteristics?
1. They do not have any manners
- When we say, manners, we are not talking about not having good table manners, or talking loudly on the train or minimal things like that. We are talking about people that ride around neighborhoods with loud music and vehicles, people that use train seats like a bed and such. According to the internet, DQN are allergic to the words ‘manners’ and ‘rules’.
2. They are short-tempered
- It is said that having a short temper and being impatient are some of the characteristics of being a DQN. They do not like to wait and will get mad very quick if a server or something makes a small mistake, sort of similar to ‘Karens’. The people on the internet also say that they are kind of like land mines since you don’t know what will trigger them to anger.
3. They are selfish and self-centered
- They do not care about the people around them, unless it is people in their in-group. Since they are self-centered, they will do whatever they want to do without considering how it could affect the people around them. They are happy as long as they get what they want.
Since this word is usually used to describe certain kinds of people (I will explain this later) and their actions, the Tokyo District court has stated that DQN is a derogatory word, so it is advised to not use this word.
Origin 
This seems like such a random word to use, doesn’t it? So, where exactly did this word come from?
The word DQN is actually an abbreviation of the word ドキュン (Doqun), which was part of a name of a variety show, which aired from 1994 to 2002, called 目撃（もくげき）！ドキュン.
What was this show about?
This show actually had four segments:
- ガケっぷち人生（じんせい）
- In this segment married couples in need will come for ‘advice’ from the hosts of the show.
- ゴーマン妻（つま）〜ココだけは直（なお）して〜
- In this segment husbands bothered by their selfish wives would come so that the hosts can ‘correct’ the wives’ behavior.
- ご対面（たいめん）
- This segment was for people looking for someone they lost touch with. This segment was kind of like a people finding documentary.
- 涙（なみだ）のバージンロード
- In this segment, they aired brides showing their appreciation to their fathers on their wedding day.
Some of them seem okay-ish at best by 2024 standards, but some of them will definitely not fly. Definitely an 炎上案件. 
Anyways, people who appeared on this show were usually the ‘delinquent-type’ of people, so in places like 2ch, people started to call ‘these types’ of people DQN, since they are the types of people that would appear on 目撃！ドキュン.
I’ve been saying ‘delinquent-type’ and ‘these type’, but what am I referring to?
When I say ‘delinquent-type’ of people I am talking about ‘ヤンキー’ and ‘不良’. I have put quotes around them since not every one that looks like a ‘ヤンキー’ or a ‘不良’ is a DQN, but due to the media and offline stereotypes, if you look a certain way, the majority of people will classify those people as a DQN.
Whats a ヤンキー and a 不良?
If you watch J-dramas or Anime, it’s those typical ‘bad boys’ or ‘delinquents’.
When would you see this used? 
Since it is an insult you would usually see it used on threads that talks about people acting trashy and being a nuisance, or on comment sections of videos showing people doing stupid (harmful and trashy) things.
One of the most common places that you would see this word used is in comment sections under videos that are currently 炎上-ing, like バカッター or バイトテロ kind of videos.
If you want to see it used irl, go watch some Japanese dashcam videos on Youtube, you will see many people using DQN!
Other uses 
Since this word is typically used to refer to people or a certain demographic, DQN can be seen when describing other things ‘typical of DQNs’.
One example of this is DQNネーム.
This term was also coined by the netizens of 2chan. This term was created to describe names that ‘parents with little common sense (DQN)’ would name their children. What this means is that they will use the meaning of the kanji instead of the reading (this can be seen as trashy and distasteful depending on the kanji and meaning of the kanji by some individuals). This means that the reading of the kanji doesn’t always match the reading. For example names like 総和 ’Sigma’, 黄熊 ’Pooh’, 光宇 ‘Pikachu’, and 主人公 ‘Hero’ are considered DQN names.
Although this is similar to キラキラネーム, it is usually used to describe unorthodox, but tasteful names, such as 心愛 being read as ここあ or 匠音 read as ショーン.
As stated before, this is a derogatory term so it is advised not to use it to insult people on the internet. Although it is rare, calling people derogatory names on the internet in Japan could get you in trouble. There was a case in 2003 where someone got called a DQN on the internet and they requested to get their name and address via their IP address so that they could bring them to court for slander.
ですので、みなさんはこういうスラングをあまり使わないようにしましょう！匿名であっても、使うなら訴えられる覚悟で使ってね！
It may seem like I am bagging people with DQNネーム and キラキラネーム, but 実は俺の名前, Fuga 風雅,もキラキラネームなんだよね！
Fuga
If you missed the previous posts, you can check them out here!
