I should probably explain the title of my earlier post. Through those convoluted paths that conversations often take, we found ourselves outside that earlier review Mexitlan Grill wondering about the composition of the Japanese word “benpi” and the “ben”. Benpi is constipation in Japanese.
We figured it was the same “ben” as in “benjou”. I looked it up in the dictionary on my iPhone, and much to our surprise, it came up with the kanji compounds as “convenience” and “secret”. So it turns out the “ben” is also the same as in “benri”. We found this pretty odd. It turns out this same kanji also can mean feces. That makes complete sense, but two have these two very different meanings for the same kanji seemed pretty wierd. I’m used to seeing a word that sounds the same but having different meanings and different kanji, but not this way around. Anyway, now you know!
I always envision this kanji:
屎
when I hear feces mentioned, because it has the same radical as the urine kanji.