[Lingo] Oshiete-kun

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Scott Robbins writes:

 > So, we were playing around with English equivalents.  I thought that the
 > best would be help vampire.  
 > 
 > http://www.slash7.com/pages/vampires

"Help vampire" is a bit contrived, and a lot more awkward than
"oshiete-kun".  In popular culture, vampires are almost by definition
self-aware, and often cunning.  My impressions is that the various
-kuns are just roles that young men "fall into", as the -chans are the
female counterparts.  Not self-aware, and rarely at all intelligent
about it.

Anyway, I'd just use "leech", or if the particular species needed
clarification, "help leech".  Not to mention that I've actually seen
both of those phrases in the wild, where I've never seen "help
vampire".