Why the difference between Buddhist temples, **お** 寺, and Shinto shrines, 神社?
(The latter does not take ご神社, お神社 or 御神社.)
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2019-01-31T14:25:52.707
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2019-01-31T20:37:16.867
2019-01-31T16:30:45.527
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question
politeness history
Why お寺 but 神社 (not ご神社)?
Apples to apples, the on-yomi equivalent to 寺{てら} would be 寺院{じいん}. It would
be just as unusual to see ご寺院 as ご神社. I think by adding ご, it almost sounds
like the 寺院 or 神社 belongs to the person you are addressing, and since neither
one is likely to belong to a single person, the construction sounds unnatural.

On the other hand the kun-yomi equivalent of 神社 would be 社{やしろ}. It wouldn't
be strange to refer to this as お社, it's just that the word 社 itself is not as
common as 神社. I think お doesn't carry the same implication as ご, namely that
the thing marked belongs to the person you are addressing.

> Common: お寺、寺院、神社
>
> Sounds strange: ご寺院、ご神社
>
> Not strange, but less common: お社
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