An often misunderstood perception about the Japanese language is that it's long-winded and excessively polite. True, there's an entire lexicon devoted to politeness, called keigo (敬語, the language of reverence) and in Kyoto, there's such a thing as kyūtei kotoba (宮廷言葉, palatial language) — spoken almost exclusively among established families of imperial blood, and most of it indecipherable to the lower classes. But that's only one aspect of a diverse and ever-morphing language equipped with infinite shades of nuances and tiny, detailed quirks. And one of those details is seen (and heard) in the use of pronouns.

Pronouns are a surefire indication of when a person is about to switch conversational lanes from polite to casual, formal to intimate. Men especially will make the changeover from boku (僕) to ore (俺) in referring to themselves. And when they're ready to forego formalities with a woman, they'll change from using kimi (君) or anata (貴方) — both are polite terms that mean "you" — to omae (お前). A third person will be referred to as aitsu (アイツ) and when a man is angry or upset with that person, s/he will be called ano yarō (あの野郎, that rascal). My grandmother used to warn the girls in the family to listen to changes in a man's conversational tone; a guy who got too casual too soon was not to be trusted, but an overly polite male was often cold and hypocritical. Interestingly, Haruki Murakami's male characters almost always go by boku instead of ore and it matches their sensitivity and particular narcissism.

Tastes differ. One of my girlfriends, Ayako, shies away from men who say ore and claims no one had ever dared call her omae in her entire life. Ayako is a purebred ojōsama (お嬢様, daughter from a high-class family) who had attended a prestigious joshikō (女子校, girls' school) from kindergarten through college and views most males as annoying Neanderthals. She herself uses watashi (私) for "I" and never the feminine atashi, a subtle but telling difference. On the other hand Mari, who is batsuichi (バツイチ, divorced once), falls for the same variety of ore-ore otoko (おれおれ男, a man who says me, me) ever since her marriage to a gentle, nonassertive guy fell apart six years ago. These ah, prehistoric cave men don't always make her happy but according to Mari: "Ore-ore otoko wa kakkoii" (「おれおれ男はかっこいい」 "the me-me-guy is cool"). Mari is very accommodating that way.