Things that drive me crazy about bonsai people

[shinmai]

Are there things other bonsai folk say or do that just make you want to scream? I’ll start with two.

“Crepe” is a fabric or a paper. “Crape” is a myrtle.

Natal plum is not pronounced “NAY-tul”, like a word referring to birth. It’s “nah-TAHL”, as in the part of South Africa to which the tree is indigenous.

 

[namnhi]

Are there things other bonsai folk say or do that just make you want to scream? I’ll start with two.

“Crepe” is a fabric or a paper. “Crape” is a myrtle.

Natal plum is not pronounced “NAY-tul”, like a word referring to birth. It’s “nah-TAHL”, as in the part of South Africa to which the tree is indigenous.

You don't have to mention name but I think you are talking about me.

 

[shinmai]

Oh, no, my observations are entirely local.

 

[bonsaichile]

When people say "yardadori"

More generally, when they refer to any collected tree, no matter the location or the age, as a "yamadori." I just look down on them and judge then all the way to next week whenever I hear this

 

[Mikecheck123]

When someone gives the literal translation of bonsai for any reason.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

When they say "Go home your ugly trees suck!"

Truth be told I mostly ask dumb questions.

 

[shinmai]

I’ll add another…people who name drop the artists they’ve worked with….like Mauro, or Suthin, or Peter Tea, or Bjorn, or Ryan—as if they’re on the artist’s speed dial and lifetime besties.

 

[vp999]

When people take it too serious.....It's a hobby after all....Enjoy the ride and don't be too harsh on others..It's THEIR trees.

 

[MSU JBoots]

My wife will tell you she get annoyed when I pronounce bonsai properly instead of “bonzai”. Most the time I just say it wrong so people know what I’m talking about.

 

[shinmai]

Or people who insist on using Japanese words to show how hip they are….like sashi-eda, when they could just use feature branch. We could also short-cut to simpler expressions like ‘slanting’, or ‘informal upright’.

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

I’ll add another…people who name drop the artists they’ve worked with….like Mauro, or Suthin, or Peter Tea, or Bjorn, or Ryan—as if they’re on the artist’s speed dial and lifetime besties.

I do wish Ryan was my bestie tho

 

[shinmai]

I do wish Ryan was my bestie tho

I wish Charlize Theron was my cleaning lady, too, but that ain’t gonna happen.

 

[Joe Dupre']

When someone shows you a pitiful stick in a pot and says "I don't know what to do with it. It just got away from me."

 

[Carol 83]

Those people that don't take the hobby super seriously and mostly only grow things that flower and take lots of pictures of flowers. Wait, that's me...

 

[shinmai]

Those people that don't take the hobby super seriously and mostly only grow things that flower and take lots of pictures of flowers. Wait, that's me...

You and me both.

 

[Time Wizard]

When people use "bonsai" as a verb.

 

[Kievnstavick]

My wife will tell you she get annoyed when I pronounce bonsai properly instead of “bonzai”. Most the time I just say it wrong so people know what I’m talking about.

I feel this one.

It doesn't help that I have to make a mental effort to pronounce it correctly. So when my brain is processing how to say it, I have this moment where I debate saying it the right way or the common way.

 

[shinmai]

So the literal translation of ‘banzai’ is something like ‘live 10,000 years’. The word has been associated, largely through American film, to be either the cry of warriors beginning an impossible attack, or kamikaze pilots diving to their certain death. In either case, the implication is a commitment to a supreme effort that will inevitably result in disaster. This pretty much sums up my first five years in bonsai.

 

[Barbells and bonsai]

My wife will tell you she get annoyed when I pronounce bonsai properly instead of “bonzai”. Most the time I just say it wrong so people know what I’m talking about.

I know it’s pronounced ‘bone-sigh’ but as a Southerner from America I can’t bring myself to shift into a Japanese accent mid conversation.
Those who look down on people like me don’t realize we think the same when we hear their last samurai impression.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I like that we hardly ever let one slide.
Bonsai police.

My personal ick is the superhero status we give some people, as if their reading on internet resources is worth more than anyone else's. Just because they charge 80 dollars a month to tell you.