Amato and Karato

Today, I will talk about the Japanese words "amato" and "karato," which are often misused.

"Ama" in "amato" means "sweet," "kara" in "karato" means "spicy," and "to" means "(political) party."

Therefore, most Japanese people think that "amato" means people who like sweets, and "karato" means people who like spicy food literary.

However, the original meanings are something like the following:

Amato: People who prefer sweets than sake (alcohol).

Karato: People who prefer sake (alcohol) to sweets.

The meaning of "amato" is almost correct, but that of "karato" is dramatically different from the original.

One of the most widely-accepted theories that explain why "karato" means people who like sake is that high alcohol sake that have a low sugar content is called "辛い" (spicy) in Japan.

甘党と辛党

今日は、多くの日本人が誤用している日本語、「甘党」と「辛党」を紹介します。

「甘」は「sweet」、「辛」は「spicy」、「党」は「party」を意味します。

このため、文字から「甘党」は「甘いものが好きな人」、「辛党」は「辛いものが好きな人」と考えられていることが多いです。

しかし、本来の意味は、それぞれ以下のようになります。

甘党：酒よりも甘い菓子類が好きな人

辛党：甘い菓子類よりも酒が好きな人

「甘党」の意味はおおよそ正しいですが、「辛党」の意味は大きく異なります。

「辛党」が「酒好き」を意味する有力な説の一つに、アルコール度数の高い酒（糖分の少ない酒）を日本では「辛い」と言うから、というものがあります。