# っしょ



## MariposaChou

Please explain what っしょ　means.  Some examples are:

海きれいっしょ

しなきゃダメっしょ

I'm guessing that っしょ is some informal form of です, but I'm not sure what it implies.  

Also, is this form limited to just certain parts of Japan or to certain age groups or what?


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## kaito

Sounds like a slurred でしょう


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## Ocham

Yes, it is shortened form of ～でしょ（う）.
The use is extremely limited to a younger generation and a Metropolitan area. 
～っしょ sounds vulgar and mean even to native speakers of Japanese. I hate 
hearing it said around me. You may not be able to avoid hearing it said, but 
you'll have no chance to use it yourself.

example:
何(nani)もないっしょ。＝何もないでしょ。＝There's nothing at all.

If I heard it said by my 12-year-old son, I would feel like striking him.


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## kaito

Wow I didn't think a simple slur could be considered that rude, would you consider っす (です) on the same level ?


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## MariposaChou

I am shocked as well that っしょ could be considered rude or mean.

I can't say that I understand why that is so.

Is it just that っしょ is unpopular like "ain't" in English because it is not standard language?  

What's the deal exactly?


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## Ocham

～っしょ can be used only among friends. An educated person 
would never use it in any occasion.
～っす is a little different. It is the slurred sound of ～です which 
is polite way of expressing "is, are, am, etc". So it is used to 
your superiors. But it is still a slang.

example:
そんなことないです＝そんなことないっす (No, it isn't. No, I am not.)

Anyway, though you may hear or see it used, you'll have no 
chance to use it yourself.


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## lammn

Ocham said:


> ～っす is a little different. It is the slurred sound of ～です which is polite way of expressing "is, are, am, etc". So it is used to
> your superiors. But it is still a slang.


 
So, you are saying that ～っす is a *polite* way of saying? 
But I have heard from a native Japanese that his use of ～っす threw his elder relatives off the wall...


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## gsantise

I´m not sure that っしょ would be considered ¨mean¨, but I do think that Ocham´s point is that you would not under any circumstances want to use this construction at work, with elders, or in any situation where you want to make a positive impression.

My sense is that unless you are a. female, and b. still in high school, using this would not make you look so much uneducated but rather really silly.

Of course, as a non-native speaker, many Japanese would forgive this but nonetheless, this one is good to understand, but not so good to use. 

っす　falls into the same general category (slang) and to clarify Ocham´s point, its a shortened form of the polite です transformed into a very casual slang (which is no longer polite).


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## Flaminius

lammn said:


> So, you are saying that ～っす is a *polite* way of saying?
> But I have heard from a native Japanese that his use of ～っす threw his elder relatives off the wall...


*lammn*, the problem is that っしょ and っす are both started out as regional variations.  In my completely inaccurate dialectological understanding, っしょ is used mainly in Hokkaido, and っす in Tohoku.  They are part of the unmarked vocabulary in respective  regional varieties.  In fact っす seems to be an accepted politeness expression in Tohoku.

If your friend could threw his elder relatives off the wall, their variety probably does not have these contracted forms.  Tokyo metropolitan area is  different due to constant influx of people from different regions of Japan.  When people come to Tokyo, they bring their dialect (often without knowing) to the Tokyo variety of Japanese.  Some of them won't become anything more than personal speech traits (idiolects) but some of them will influence the speech of others.  My favourite example is じゃん.  It seems that this friendly sentence ending was particular to Kanagawa long time ago (maybe 100 years or so?) but it is part of the colloquial variety of the greater Tokyo area.  I could further say its use in media has spread the word even outside Tokyo.

It is probably impossible that っしょ and っす have occurred independent of regional influences —innovations by individuals hardly stick on in language changes.


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## MariposaChou

Quite interesting!  

Thank you for your replies, everyone!  

I have a clearer understanding now.


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