• zabadohEnglish
    4·
    1 month ago

    I’m to figure out what “Santa Dodoria” means. It’s what the TV station staff and the taxi driver refer to Momo’s grandma, and her pseudonym/professional name.

    “Santa” is “Saint (female)” in Portuguese, but according to a wiki, it’s actually written in the kanji “三太” for which I can only guess “3rd eldest prince(ss)” as in “三太子”

    “Dodoria” is written in katakana “ドドリア” indicating a foreign word, or the name of flora or fauna.

    There’s the Dragonball villain named “Dodoria” whose name is supposed to be a play on the Japanese word for the durian fruit, i.e. “Dorian” but that’s about as far as I get.

    • wjs018English
      3·
      1 month ago

      “Santa” is also saint in Spanish as well. However, given the history with Portuguese merchants in Japan, that connection makes more sense. As for the kanji, it is actually a name in Japan, though, from what I found is usually masculine. So, it is likely a bit of a stretch with the name to make the foreign language pun work out.

      I think the durian fruit connection might be the right one. If you open up a durian, the fleshy, yellow part looks a whole heck of a lot like the hair that is bound and standing up on her head:

      durian