I got this question via e-mail, and since other people probably have the same question, I thought I’d throw out the question and my answer here on the forums, because on Sesame Street I learned about shaaarring.

Q. What does まじで (majide) mean?

A. Majide literally translates to “seriously” but is often used to express disbelief in something. For example, if someone were to say some SMAP singer was walking around naked, one might respond with “majide!!??” (Seriously!!). You could also kind of think of it as a word that means “really” though that’s not technically the correct translation.

It can also be shortened to a まじ？？？ (maji???) if you are particularly surprised, or just want to sound casual.

I’m going to continue to try to answer questions I get up on the eduFire board, just because some of them are good questions! Feel free to add input, additions, corrections, etc :)

Koichi-san, why do they sometimes write majide in katakana and sometimes in kanji as honkide? What is the difference and relationship between those 2 expressions?

When written in katakana, it’s just putting more emphasis on the word, a lot like when something is written in italics in English.

Honkide is pretty much the same meaning as majide, so I bet you see them interchanged. Sometimes you’ll also see (probably in manga?) times where there will be one kanji (like honkide) and the furigana will be a different word that means the same thing (like majide). This is just another one of those things that puts more emphasis on a word, and gives it a slightly different feeling while still keeping the same meaning.

Thanks for this post Koichi, it was very educational. I feel a lot wiser now まじかよ。(lol just kidding with that).

You have to consider if the phrase can be used in a formal, an informal, or both settings. Honki de can be used in a formal as well as an informal situation, unlike “Maji de”. This pharase, I’d say, is inappropriate to use in a formal situation. This phrase can be used between close friends or close family members. I guess older generation won’t use this phrasase since it is invented after World War II. I don’t know the exact history as to when people started using “Maji de”, but I assume it’s from 80s or so.

Didn’t they shout Majide! In a game show? o.o….-_- _{Try’s to think of game show} ><; uhh…fudge…I forgot.I’ll write when it comes to me.I REALLY liked that show too!! xO So funny….=.=;

It was called I Survived a Japanese Game Show.

I saw in a random anime lately, “Stoppu! [‘stop’] maji stoppu!” as a sort of emphasis. Like. Stop! Seriously, stop! etc.

Now, I know one more useful Japanese word.

まじ？:)