A new Japanese buzz word - Ｈａｎｄｌｅ Keeper

[Minoru Mochizuki]

Have you encountered this new Japanese buzz word -

ハンドルキーパー?

 

It is equivalent to "Bob" which is used in some parts

of Europe.

 

I suppose there is a good chance that you may say

"Bob? Who's that?"

 

A Bob is a person designated as a temporarily

chauffer among a group of people going out for a night

of eating and dining. The dining/drinking institution will

ask the group who is the Bob of the group for the night

when they arrive and give him a name tag showing that

the person is the "Bob" for the group so that waiters/

waitresses will not serve Bob any alcoholic beverages.

I think it is a little silly system, although it may be

practical to minimize traffic accidents under intoxication,

but it is now adopted by some Japanese locals and

Bob is called "ハンドルキーパー."

 

ハンドル is, as you know, a steering wheel of an

automobile.

 

Compared to ハンドルキーパー, コレポン is more than

60 years older.

 

Minoru Mochizuki

 

 

[Alan Siegrist]

Minoru Mochizuki writes:

 

A Bob is a person designated as a temporarily

chauffer among a group of people going out for a night

of eating and dining.

 

I think “designated driver” is used in the US for this.

This is not nearly as fun of a name as Bob, though.

 

Regards,

 

Alan Siegrist
Orinda, CA, USA
AlanFS...@comcast.net

 

[Akebono Translation Service]

Dear Minoru,

>	It is equivalent to "Bob" which is used in some parts  of Europe.

This word was invented by the Flamish. It's short for Bewust Onbeschonken Bestuurder (Consciously Sober Driver).

Best regards,

Loek van Kooten

Akebono Translation Service

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The Netherlands

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[Michael Hendry]

From: "Alan Siegrist" <AlanFS...@Comcast.net>

> I think “designated driver” is used in the US for this.

And in Australia.

MH in AU