Someone Wondered Why Anyone Needs Twelve 'Husband' Stickers. They Were Yen Signs, Upside Down

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A person in Japan was looking at a pack of twelve small stickers, each printed with the same character, and wondered out loud what anyone could possibly need that many husbands for. The character looked like 夫 (otto), the kanji for "husband." It was actually the yen sign, ¥, and the stickers just happened to be facing upside down.

Turn ¥ over and the fork of the Y becomes a pair of legs, the two bars stay more or less where they were, and the result is close enough to 夫 to fool someone at a glance. Once the mix-up was pointed out, replies moved on to the obvious question: what does it say about marriage that a husband, flipped over, turns into money?

Comments

Said “what would anyone even use this many husbands for?” out loud today and embarrassed myself

「こんなにたくさんの夫、何に使うんだろ？」って声に出してしまい恥をかいた今日

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JUMBO ENCHO! THAT’S JUMBO ENCHO!! (Shizuoka resident) (Jumbo Enchō is a home-improvement store chain based in Shizuoka Prefecture.)

ジャンボエンチョー！ジャンボエンチョーじゃないか！！（静岡県民）

Couldn’t tell what the stickers were for a sec either. I’d have said it out loud too

一瞬なんのシールか分からんかった。自分も声に出してたと思う

Pondering the many uses of a husband…

「夫」の使い道を考える・・・

This many husbands (make of that what you will)

こんなにたくさんの夫(意味深)

A secret wish for a harem of husbands slipping out?

夫を沢山侍らせたいハーレム願望が出た？

1 wife, 12 husbands

1妻12夫

You can never have too many husbands, after all (A nod to the comedy duo Milkboy, who open their act by thanking the audience for an imaginary gift and adding that you can never have too many of those.)

夫なんてなんぼあっても良いですからね

I don’t need this many❗ I can barely handle the one I’ve got!

こんなにいっぱいいらん❗ 夫はひとりで持て余しておるわ！

That’s yen (￥). It’s upside down.

円（￥）ですね。上下反対です。

Works as “husband” AND as “¥”! Reversible, how handy

「夫」にも「¥」にも使える！リバーシブルで便利じゃーん

Which also means I’ve learned that flipping a husband gets you ¥.

逆に夫をひっくり返すと¥になるという知見を得ました。

Oh, so “¥” upside down is “夫.” I bet designers have a lot of little tricks like this up their sleeves.

そっか「¥」ってひっくり返すと「夫」なのか。デザイナーって結構この手の引き出し多そうですよね。

Is this a polyandry situation? How much are they? ￥

一婦多夫制なのかな? いくらでしょうか？￥

Assorted husbands, 178 yen

夫の詰め合わせ178円

Cheap husbands, 178 yen (¦3[▓▓]

安い夫178円(¦3[▓▓]

Husbands, 30% off

夫30%引き

Didn’t see ¥ coming😂 But a husband is priceless! (probably)

まさかの¥😂 でも夫はプライスレス！（たぶん）

Turn a husband upside down and you get ￥. Deep.

夫を逆さにすると￥になると、深いな

Something about a husband turning into ¥ when you flip him feels kinda dark

夫を裏返したら¥になるの闇深い気がする

Ah, the one where you turn your husband upside down and money falls out

夫をひっくり返したらお金が落ちてくると言うやつですね

Going one step past husband = ATM to husband = ￥ (Calling a husband the family’s ATM is a long-running joke in Japan.)

夫＝ATM から一歩進んで夫＝￥に

Looks like the key is knowing how to roll him over💰

夫をうまく転がすのが大事そうですね💰

転がす (korogasu) means “to roll” or “to tip over,” but it also means handling someone so skillfully that they never notice, like having them wrapped around your finger. Here it works both ways: manage your husband well, and flip him until he turns into ¥.

My mom used to say this all the time…

“Do you know what 夫 really means❓ Flip 夫 (husband) over and you get ￥ (the yen sign), right? So he’s someone who doesn’t need to come home at all, as long as the money💴 does…lol” 😏🎵

昔、よく母が言っていました... 『夫の裏の意味を知っているか❓ 夫（おっと）とは裏返せば￥（円マーク）になるやろ？つまり、家にお金💴を入れてくれれば帰って来なくて良い存在なんよ...笑』と😏🎵

Let’s stack a husband pyramid and do a champagne tower (Champagne towers, where glasses are stacked into a pyramid and filled from the top, are a famous big-money splurge at host clubs.)

夫ピラミッドを作って、シャンパンタワーをやりましょう

So turn a husband upside down and money comes out…

Hang in there, husbands of the world!!

夫を逆さにすると金が出てくるってことか。。。頑張れ世の中の旦那さん！！

Husbands… they’re worked so hard you could shake them upside down and not even get a nosebleed out of them😭 Be nice to them~ (A Japanese idiom for being completely broke: shake them all you like, nothing comes out, not even blood.)

夫…逆さに振っても鼻血も出ないぐらい働かされてるんよ😭 優しくしてあげて〜

I read it as 大丈夫 (大丈夫, daijōbu, means “it’s okay.” Its last character is 夫, and the first two, 大 and 丈, look like 夫 with a stroke or so missing.)

大丈夫って読んじゃいました

Now it’s starting to look like “大丈夫” to me. So it’s okay👌

なんか「大丈夫」に見えてきた。だから大丈夫👌

Someone must REALLY want to cheer people up🤔 Now I’m looking around for where the 大 and 丈 went🔍(･ω･｡)ｷｮﾛｷｮﾛ(｡･ω･)🔎

めっちゃ励ましたいんやろな🤔と大と丈もどこかにあるはずやと探してしまう🔍(･ω･｡)ｷｮﾛｷｮﾛ(｡･ω･)🔎

I thought it was “大丈夫” written vertically four times… We’re all so tired huh😿

私は縦書きで大丈夫って4つ書いてあるのかと…… みんな疲れてるな😿

My take

Stick one of these on, and there will be no more confusion about whether the person next to you is a husband or a yen.

#Funny #Culture

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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