ダサい

Uncertain. Theories include derivation from どんくさい (donkusai, “clumsy”), 野(や)菜(さい) (yasai, “vegetables”), or possibly from a misreading (possibly humorous) of 田舎(いなか) (inaka, “countryside, rural area; unrefined”) as 田(だ) (da) + 舎(しゃ) (sha).^[1] Attested from the 1970s.

• (Tokyo) ダサい [dàsáꜜì] (Nakadaka – [2])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [da̠sa̠i]

ダサい or ださい • (dasai) -i (adverbial ダサく (dasaku))

1. (slang) lame, uncool, hideous
   • 1979, Kim Il-tu, Meisatsu hengaku junreki (Myŏngch'al p'yŏnaek sullyŏk) [Pictorial tour of famous temples], Seoul: Hanjin Ch'ulp'ansa, page 9:

     五(ご)島(しま)田(だ)歌(か)詞(し)が「孤(こ)独(どく)に耐(た)えられない」とか、誰(だれ)もが知(し)っているダサい歌(か)詞(し)なんです。

     Goshimada kashi ga “kodoku ni taerarenai” toka, dare mo ga shitteiru dasai kashi nan desu.

     Everybody knows Goshimada from poems with unsophisticated lines like, “I can’t abide the solitude”.

   • 1982, Aida Garo, Gekitotsu bōsō “zoku” [Smashing motorcycle “tribes”], Tokyo: Dainamikku Serāzu:

     今(いま)まで、けっこう暴(ぼう)走(そう)族(ぞく)の本(ほん)とかいろいろ出(で)てるけど、あんなのはダサいよ。

     Ima made, kekkō bōsōzoku no hon toka iroiro deteru kedo, anna no wa dasai yo.

     Before now, a lot of books have appeared about bōsōzoku [motorcycle gangs], but they’re all lame.

   • 1993, Saimon Fumi, Ai ni tsuite kojinteki iken 2 [Personal opinions about love, part 2], page 52:

     「はらほろひれはれ」と同(おな)じくらい古(ふる)臭(くさ)い。要(よう)するに、ダサいコマーシャルなのだ。

     “Hara horo hire hare” to onaji kurai furu-kusai. Yō suru ni, dasai komāsharu na no da.

     They’re as old-fashioned as “June-moon-swoon”. In short, just lame commercials.

• ダサダサ (dasadasa)

• ダサダサ (dasadasa)
• ダさいたま (Dasaitama)