Hey everyone! 
日本にいるみんな、お盆休みはどうだった？
This week, we will be covering the meme format 〇〇構文. The 〇〇 part is just a placeholder!
Before we get dive into this slang, let’s break this down and take a look at what 構文 means first.
The organization of a sentence (and coherent parts of a sentence) from a formal point of view. The composition of a sentence.
Basically, 構文 means ‘syntax’ or ‘sentence structure’!
Now let’s look at the 〇〇 part. As mentioned above, this is just a place holder and it usually contains a name or a group of people.
So the structure of this phrase is ‘NAME/GROUP + Sentence structure’.
What exactly is 〇〇構文? 
〇〇構文 is an internet meme where people make parody sentences based on how a person or a group of people write. It is a bit like Copypastas, except these usually get modified since the content is not the main part of the meme, but the sentence structure is.
This probably sounds confusing. This might make more sense after seeing some examples!
Let’s take a look at some popular examples! 
The first and most popular example is おじさん構文 (middle-aged men sentence structure) 
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Middle-aged men sentence structure? What the heck does that even mean?
This is exactly what it sounds like. It is a sentence structure you might seen used by older men (mostly older men that were around the flip phone era). So what would this look like?
These are some of the characteristics of how middle-aged men write (of course these are stereotypes):
- They use writing styles that was popular during the flip phone era
- Strangely self confident/likes to brag
- Acts as if you guys are best friends, or very 馴れ馴れしい (No sense of boundaries)
- Very obvious that they have ulterior motives (when talking to younger women)
- Uses an excessive amount of emoji
- Random uses of katakana
Example of おじさん構文 :
ヤっほー〇〇チャン、元気かな 
最近暑くなってきたネ 
今日も熱中症にならないように気をつけてネ 
。まだ朝早いから寝てるかな 
そういえば今日はキミが夢に出てきたヨ 
。今日もいっぱいやることあるけどキミのこと考えながらオジサン頑張る 
今日の昼はラーメンでも食べよっかな！〇〇チャンってこの前ラーメン 
好きって言ってたよネ ！もしこんど時間あったら今度一緒にご飯でもどうカナ 
Example with furigana
ヤっほー〇〇チャン、元気（げんき）かな 最近（さいきん）暑（あつ）くなってきたネ 今日（きょう）も熱中症（ねっちゅうしょう）にならないように気（き）をつけてネ 。まだ朝（あさ）早（はや）いから寝（ね）てるかな そういえば今日（きょう）はキミが夢（ゆめ）に出（で）てきたヨ 。今日（きょう）もいっぱいやることあるけどキミのこと考（かんが）えながらオジサン頑張（がんば）る 今日（きょう）の昼（ひる）はラーメンでも食（た）べよっかな！〇〇チャンってこの前（まえ）ラーメン 好（す）きって言（い）ってたよネ ！もしこんど時間（じかん）あったら今度（こんど）一緒（いっしょ）にご飯（はん）でもどうカナ
Translation:
Hey OO, hope you are doing well! It’s getting pretty hot recently isn’t it? Make sure you take care of yourself so that you don’t get a heat stroke today. It’s still early so I am guessing that you are still asleep? By the way, you appeared in my dream last night! I have a lot to do today but I will do my best with you on my mind! I might treat myself with ramen for lunch today! I remember you saying that you liked ramen the other day, didn’t you? Why don’t we go get dinner next time you are free?
If there is a おじさん, there must be a おばさん 
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おばさん構文 is not too different from おじさん構文. Since these are people from the same era, they have very similar sentence structures and use the same kind of emojis. Although they are basically the same, there are several things that separate the おじさんs and the おばさんs. In addition to the おじさん structure, おばさん構文:
- usually repeats the same emoji, even if it is not necessary
- will use 「〜」instead of 「ー」
*tend to use 「…」 and small あいうえお「ぁぃぅぇぉ」
Lets take a quick look at a おばさん構文:
おはよぉ〜 
昨日遅い時間まで付き合ってくれてぁりがとね 
すごくたのしかったょ〜 また近いうちにぁおうね〜 
Example with furigana
おはよぉ〜 昨日（きのう）遅（おそ）い時間（じかん）まで付（つ）き合（あ）ってくれてぁりがとね すごくたのしかったょ〜 また近いうちにぁおうね〜
Translation:
Good morning! Thank you for hanging out with me for so long last night! I had so much fun! Lets meet again soon!
Wow… these were very painful to write.
Although this style of writing is considered a meme by most younger people, this is just how some people actually write. Due to the weird sentence structure, both おじさん and おばさん構文 are typically treated as the prime example of a キモい writing style.
ヒス構文 is another 構文 that became huge on the internet.
The ヒス used here is short for ヒステリー or hysteria, and it is used when you want to describe a person that is being overly emotional and blurting out whatever is on their mind without restraint due to frustration. On the internet, this word is mostly used when the person being emotional is a woman.
ヒス構文 usually refers to the sentence structure frustrated mothers use to guilt trip their children or spouse by doing some mind gymnastics and by changing the point of the topic so that it seems like the speaker is being attacked.
Lets take a quick look at some ヒス構文:
私：今日友達のお母さんが作ったクッキー食べたけどあれはメチャ美味かった！
お母さん：へー、お母さんにはクッキー作ってなんて言わないじゃない。私エスパーじゃないんだから言われなきゃわかんないよ。そんなにおいしかったらその子の家に住まわしてもらいな。
Example with furigana
私（わたし）：今日（きょう）友達（ともだち）のお母（かあ）さんが作（つく）ったクッキー食（た）べたけどあれはメチャ美味（おいし）かった！
お母（かあ）さん：へー、お母（かあ）さんにはクッキー作（つく）ってなんて言（い）わないじゃない。私（わたし）エスパーじゃないんだから言（い）われなきゃわかんないよ。そんなにおいしかったらその子（こ）の家（いえ）に住（す）まわしてもらいな。
Translation:
Me: I ate a cookie my friend’s mother made, and it was so delicious!
Mother: Huh, you never ask me to make you cookies. If you don’t tell me that you want homemade cookies, I can’t make you any, I’m not a mind-reader. If they were so good, why don’t you go live with them?
私：おはよう！
お母さん：おはようって、私が起きてるかの確認？私起きない方がいいの？一生寝てろってこと？
Example with furigana
私（わたし）：おはよう！
お母（かあ）さん：おはようって、私（わたし）が起（お）きてるかの確認（かくにん）？私（わたし）起（お）きない方（ほう）がいいの？一生（いっしょう）寝（ね）てろってこと？
Translation:
Me:Good morning!
Mother:Good morning? Are you making sure that I’m awake? Would it be better if I didn’t wake up? Are you telling me that I should be asleep forever?
Since this 構文 is more customizable and is more obvious that it is a joke, younger people have started to use this style of writing when responding to text messages from friends.
For example if a friend has not responded to your text for a few minutes, you could respond with:
返事遅くない？早く私とのLINE終わらせたいのかな？私との会話なんて無駄な時間だもんね。
Example with furigana
返事（へんじ）遅（おそ）くない？早（はや）く私（わたし）とのLINE終（お）わらせたいのかな？私（わたし）との会話（かいわ）なんて無駄（むだ）な時間（じかん）だもんね。
Translation:
Late reply huh? I’m guessing you just want to end our LINE conversation asap, don’t you? I get it, talking to me is such a waste of time isn’t it?
Since this one is self deprecating, you should only use this type of 構文 when talking to friends or people that know you enough to know that you are joking. If you use this to someone you don’t know too well, they may think you are a pain in the butt to talk to (面倒臭い), or you might make the other person feel uncomfortable.
Another popular 〇〇構文 is the 小泉（こいずみ）構文. The 小泉 here refers to 小泉（こいずみ）進次郎（しんじろう） one one the sons of the former prime minister 小泉純一郎（じゅんいちろう）. The 小泉構文 became a meme when he made a speech after being appointed to become the Minister for the Environment at the age of 38. The structure of this sentence is that the former part of the sentence and the latter part of the sentence is the same. This structure’s sentences are long, but only half the sentence is needed to get the message across. There is another characteristic and that is that he has the tendency to make things sound ‘poetic’.
Examples:
リモートワークができるおかげで公務もリモートでできるものができた
Example with furigana
リモートワークができるおかげで公務（こうむ）もリモートでできるものができた
Translation:
Thanks to remote work, I was able to do official buisness remotely.
毎日でも食べたいということは毎日でも食べているというわけではない
Example with furigana
毎日（まいにち）でも食（た）べたいということは毎日（まいにち）でも食（た）べているというわけではない
Translation:
Wanting to eat something every day is not the same as eating it everyday.
今のままではいけないと思います。だからこそ日本は今のままではいけない
Example with furigana
今（いま）のままではいけないと思（おも）います。だからこそ日本（にほん）は今（いま）のままではいけない
Translation:
We need to make some changes. This is why I think Japan will have to make some changes.
These some of the most famous 小泉構文, and because of how redundant each of these sentences are, there was a time where people on the internet would try to top his statements when texting friends.
For example one of the most famous fan made one is:
今日はあなたの誕生日なんですね。私も誕生日に生まれたんです
Example with furigana
今日（きょう）はあなたの誕生日（たんじょうび）なんですね。私（わたし）も誕生日（たんじょうび）に生（う）まれたんです
Translation:
Today is your birthday? I was also born on my birthday.
I hope these examples gave you a better understanding of what 〇〇構文 is! As you can tell from the examples, unlike Copypastas, each 構文 is different from one another because each of them has an unique template. You probably won’t see the term 〇〇構文 as often, but you will definitely see people using some kind of 構文 on forums or on comment sections of a video. These will probably be harder to spot since you have to be up with current events, and as learners, noticing an abnormal sentence structure could be a bit of a challenge.
みんなの母国語では〇〇構文に似たものはあるかな？もしあったら、ぜひ教えてください！
東京知事選挙中は石丸構文が流行ってったよ！
Fuga
If you missed the previous posts, you can check them out here!
