[T-975] Here's why Japanese subtitles are sometimes misspelled

Dear Rine,

I was wondering why this one character in this show I’m watching keeps saying ねえ in places where I’d expect ない.

My go-to dictionaries and grammar references were mute on this point.

Wikitionary is where I discovered the answer.

ねぇ • (nē)

Eye dialect spelling of ない (nai, “no”).

What’s an “eye dialect?”

Lissen, if you don’t know wut eye dialect is that’s yer problem.

Wut’s dat? Yer not happy with that answer?

Okay, lemme tell you then:

Eye dialect, says the internet, is when you intentionally misspell words to represent deviations from standard pronunciation.

The character in the show who keeps talking like this, some others refer to him as a パンチパーマ.

Definition:

パンチパーマ -- curly men's hairstyle, usu. associated with yakuza or delinquents

So he’s kind of a street guy.

Hence the eye dialect.

So yes, if you run into these strange forms, know that it might just be misspelled to sound more street.

Did you already know all this? Well, that’s yer problem then. JK, good for you is what I wanted to say.

Alright, on to my report:

What I planned/did today

Obstacles