12061
In [this 4コマ漫画{まんが}](http://www.j-cast.com/2013/06/03175373.html), a four
panel comic, a young attractive woman walks through a station ticket gate, but
there's something wrong with her ticket. The station attendant calls after
her, first by calling out `お客{きゃく}さん！`, which is "customer" or "passenger", a
usual way for a staff to refer to a patron. She does not respond. So then he
calls out `おネエさん！`, which is something like "miss" or "young lady". She still
does not respond. He calls out `おネエさま！`, which is again "miss" or "young lady"
or something like that, just with the politeness upped a little. She does not
respond.

Finally, he calls out `お嬢{じょう}さま！`. Which, as far as I've understood its
usage, is still just a way of saying "young woman" or "daughter". My
dictionary also says it means "unmarried woman".

My feeling is that this comic isn't wildly hysterical in any case, but there's
some kind of nuance to the fact that she only responds to `お嬢{じょう}さま！` that is
supposed to be kind of amusing. But to my non-native Japanese level of
comprehension, it's just different ways of referring to a young woman, so I'm
not seeing the extra connotations that support the humour.

What is it about her responding only to `お嬢{じょう}さま！` that is in any way
noteworthy? Is the fact that the man beside her is more distant from her in
the last panel relevant (in that he is clearly not her husband)?

Lastly, I thought `おネエさん！` would be too casual for a station attendant.
Wouldn't it translate to something like "hey, babe"?

![フジ三太郎 comic](https://i.stack.imgur.com/E5Nvz.gif)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-04T06:39:06.987
12054
2016-02-17T21:25:50.817
2016-02-17T21:25:50.817
1628
119
question
usage manga jokes
What's the joke in this 4コマ comic?
It's from サトウサンペイ's フジ三太郎 in 朝日新聞, the man who looks back is its main
character フジ三太郎, so he has to appear somewhere in the strip every day (I
guess). I think 「お客さん！」＞「おねえさん！」＞「お嬢さん！」(in three panels) could have worked
too.  

I think it's just お嬢さん/お嬢さま sounds younger than おねえさん/おねえさま. The lady
unconsciously ignores おねえさん and おねえさま because she thinks she's too young to be
called that way. We readers, especially male readers, feel like "Ah I know how
this station employee feels" "This is what women are" "They always feel
younger than they really are" etc.  

> I thought おネエさん！ would be too casual for a station attendant.  
>

I agree. I don't expect them to call me おねえさん either. At least, it wouldn't
sound polite.  

> Wouldn't it translate to something like "hey, babe"?  
>

Not necessarily. It depends on the situation and how you say it.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-04T11:05:19.923
12055
2013-06-05T14:37:11.547
2013-06-05T14:37:11.547
12054
answer
About the nuance of お嬢さま.

The difference is visual. Someone described as お嬢様, besides being a young
unmarried female, has also cultivated (or been raised to have) a sense of
upper-class refinement, most immediately evident through her appearance and
attitude. Perhaps in between Scarlett O'Hara and Holly Golightly?

Looking closely at that フジ三太郎 comic strip, there's a suggestion of erectness
in the straight shoulders; of an elegant gate, in the slight to-and-fro swish
of the skirt; of luxury, in the chicness of the clothes, particularly the
chain-link strap of the purse; and in the long straight hair and slight
makeup, of a self-awareness of girlish attractiveness. It takes the ticket
attendant a moment to recognize how these signs distinguish her from a woman
who just happens to be young, i.e., an おねえさん.

Perhaps it's proof of this perception of mine that, until I looked it up just
now on WWWJDIC, I had always thought 嬢 meant "princess".

Thanks for the question and introducing me to a new comic strip.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-05T01:13:45.393
12061
2013-06-05T01:38:08.587
2013-06-05T01:38:08.587
3556
3556
12054
answer
I think the strip is about the moral cruelty of Japanese life.

The dutiful young man discovered something – a lost ticket maybe – which might
be to the disadvantage of his customer, and calls out to her. Instead of
heeding his apparently audible call (the man to the left of the woman did hear
it after all), the woman decides that calling conventions are more important
than fact matters to her. She remains stubborn during 3 calls while the young
man breaks out into sweat, painfully caught between his social duties of
serving the customer and remaining at his assigned position.

While this comic strip seems to tell us that we should use proper politeness
right away and women should not let themselves be addressed in a debasing kind
of way, it is my personal perception that the strip mocks all the servile
hands that smoothen our daily life. Women long had a low social standing in
society, but once they become rich and beautiful they can put the lowest
behind them and treat them like dirt – the new old kind of justice.

Therefore there is no joke. It is all very depressing.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-05T10:09:47.097
12062
2013-06-05T10:09:47.097
1537
12054
answer
(Note: the impressions below come from the various manga I've read, which
might or might not reflect the realities of life in Japan. But then, the
subject is a manga too...)

お嬢さん or (お嬢ちゃん) is indeed what you would call a small girl, e.g. if you don't
know her name but need to call her somehow (かわいいお嬢ちゃんですね！). It has a nuance of
"little princess".

However, お嬢さま is something different. It implies an upper-class lady from a
rich family. In fact, I wouldn't expect one to ride subway, she probably has a
car with a driver, and possibly a butler at her huge mansion too. Such ladies
tend to use highly polite or old-fashioned speech (わたくし、～ですわ、～ですの etc.) and
may have gaps in "commoner's" knowledge such as using ticket gates ^_^.

Some examples from anime/manga/etc.:

  * Nagi Sanzenin from Hayate the Combat Butler
  * secondary characters from Ouran High School Host Club
  * Tomoyo Daidouji from Cardcaptor Sakura (when she grows up...)

See [TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ojou) for more.

[Niconico article](http://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E3%81%8A%E5%AC%A2%E6%A7%98)
seems to describe the term pretty well too.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-14T00:35:06.997
12137
2013-06-14T00:35:06.997
3295
12054
answer