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If you follow any Japanese speakers on Twitter, you'll almost certainly see
them use [なう](https://twitter.com/#search?q=%E3%81%AA%E3%81%86) at the end of
a sentence, to say "I am in this place/doing this thing **now** ". Where does
this use come from? Who started it? Is it anything to do with the (e.g. bus)
announcements that say "なう"?
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usage slang colloquial-language internet-slang
Where does なう on Twitter come from?
Twitter came from the US, so I'd argue that original Japanese twitter-ers
picked it up from the English feeds that they followed. Additionally, "now" is
common enough of a word that most Japanese know it in English, even if they
don't speak English fully, so I reckon it just caught on like that.
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2011-06-01T00:23:27.417
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It's not clear exactly who or what started it on twitter, but なう does indeed
come from the English "now". It became popular in 2009, shortly after the
release of twitter (according to [this
site](http://www.paradisearmy.com/doujin/pasok_now.htm)). Here are some
Japanese articles exploring the usage:

  * <http://nanapi.jp/258/>
  * <http://zokugo-dict.com/21na/nau.htm>
  * <http://www.paradisearmy.com/doujin/pasok_now.htm>
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2011-06-01T00:31:47.757
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I don't know for certain, but 「ナウい」(and later「ナウな」) was a trendy slang word
beginning in the 70's or so. (It is no longer trendy, and is in fact now very
dated, so don't try using it to sound cool. :) So there was already a
precedence for this word.

[Wikipedia article](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8A%E3%82%A6%E3%81%84)
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2011-06-03T10:10:03.953
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The なう that you hear in the Bus announcements is actually "なお" meaning
"furthermore" or "in addition". If I recall correctly, it is often used in the
part of the announcement that is describing the locations near the next stop.
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