I read this line in a blog today:

> 料理に使えるおススメ品や、ご飯屋さんを紹介しています。

and I have two questions:

1) I know that the writer can use katakana for emphasis or for some other
reason, but why is it mixed like this? Is the **お** honorific in this case? It
seems that おすすめ and すすめ have roughly the same meaning, but I really don't know
the difference.

2) Can you write the honorific prefix in katakana オ in some cases? I wonder if
you cannot, then that is why it was written this way.
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2014-05-04T00:31:35.197
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2014-05-04T02:07:48.483
2014-05-04T01:05:06.023
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question
katakana honorifics
Question about mixed kana in おススメ
1) Yes, the お is an honorific but it cannot be dropped in this case. We just
never say ススメ[品]{ひん}.

Since this is fairly informal writing, the author is "granted" the stylistic
choices that are not allowed in formal writing.

The word could have been written お勧め、おすすめ、オススメ、おススメ, etc. but the author
apparently thought おススメ would fit best. As an average Japanese-speaker, I have
no problem with this choice --- none. It looks nice and light. Point is that
it would NOT make the author look one bit more educated or sofisticated if
s/he opted for お勧め or お薦め.

2）Yes. As I stated above, オススメ is totally natural and acceptable in informal
writing. In formal writing, however, it is out of the question.
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2014-05-04T02:07:48.483
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answer