Why do some people or anime characters change the order of words when saying them?

Like in dr. Stone Gen says ji-ma instead of maji マジ, or bai-ya instead of yabai やばい, or in jujutsu kaisen nobara says shisu instead of sushi? 🍣 Is that a trend for young people nowadays or does it have a different meaning?

2 comments
  1. Generally people agree that these words are from the TV/entertainment industry. Some people say it originated from the jazz community, where they were used as “code words”

    ズージャー (ジャズ)

    シータク (タクシー)

    etc. and this spread into the entertainment industry creating more words like

    ザギン (銀座 Ginza)

    ギロッポン (六本木 Roppongi)

    ワイハー (ハワイ Hawai’i)

    etc.

    Today they’re generally considered “old” or “retro” because it was popular in the 80s-90s. You’ll hear some people who are 50 or older still use it, or some younger people will say it in a joking way, but it’s definitely not modern, and usually they’re just saying it for fun.

    Some people even say this way of flipping the order of words started in the Edo period with words like
    新しい
    Which was originally read as あらたしい, but was flipped and became what we’re used to hearing today あたらしい

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