Kabedon
Japanese sound symbolism
- 1 min read
- 2 chapters
Related on Lably
Origins
The term kabedon first appeared in 2008 when voice actor Ryōko Shintani described it as "lovely situation". It has been popularized in the shōjo manga L DK by author Ayu Watanabe; and in April 2014, the manga was adapted into a live-action film. Afterwards, the term started to become familiar to the public and has appeared in multiple shojo manga stories.
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Usage
Kabedon typically appears in Shōjo manga or anime when a man corners the woman against the wall; at the same time, one or both of his hands slaps the wall on either side of the woman and the sound of "don" is produced.
In Japan, the walls of many accommodation buildings are thin and not insulated against sound. As such, simple actions like closing a door or turning on the television can easily be heard by neighbors. When this noise becomes too loud to bear, Japanese people tend to bang their connecting walls in protest.
The practice of kabedon was borrowed into Chinese with the pronunciation bidong (壁咚, bìdōng / bik1 dung1) through television dramas like My Sunshine. In Hong Kong, the actor Gregory Wong performed the bidong in a commercial for Listerine mouthwash.