Shibai
Encyclopedia
Shibai is a popular term commonly used in the state of Hawaii
. Its general meaning refers to someone who is viewed as being "pretentious" or overtly "hypocritical."
The term is used mostly regarding social interactions. It can be heard being used in reference to the political system in general, or applied to political actions, policies, even individual politicians that are deemed untrustworthy, shady or disingenuous.
The word "shibai" entered into the common local vocabulary of Hawaii by way of introduction from Japanese immigrants. The original Japanese
language word, 芝居, literally translates as "a play" or "a dramatic performance," but is also used to describe a situation when someone is merely pretending or being insincere, as if performing a stage role: e.g., 芝居だよ！ - "...(s)he is only playacting!" or, "...it's all just an act!"
As a result of becoming popular in informal conversation, "shibai" can also be used even in what would be considered more "formal" venues, such as the local daily newspapers and even on local televised news broadcasts throughout Hawaii, especially during an election season.
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. Its general meaning refers to someone who is viewed as being "pretentious" or overtly "hypocritical."
The term is used mostly regarding social interactions. It can be heard being used in reference to the political system in general, or applied to political actions, policies, even individual politicians that are deemed untrustworthy, shady or disingenuous.
The word "shibai" entered into the common local vocabulary of Hawaii by way of introduction from Japanese immigrants. The original Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
language word, 芝居, literally translates as "a play" or "a dramatic performance," but is also used to describe a situation when someone is merely pretending or being insincere, as if performing a stage role: e.g., 芝居だよ！ - "...(s)he is only playacting!" or, "...it's all just an act!"
As a result of becoming popular in informal conversation, "shibai" can also be used even in what would be considered more "formal" venues, such as the local daily newspapers and even on local televised news broadcasts throughout Hawaii, especially during an election season.