Ochinko and Owchinko in Japanese

I have waited and waited and waited for this one to come up. I didn’t want to be the one who brought up this guy from the tombs of baseball. But it’s not the tombs. Sean Ochinko isn’t the guy I remembered as a kid and giggled when his name came up. Ochinko is in the minors, currently. Who was I thinking about?

Let’s back to why I’m giggling. Chinko means penis and Ochinko I suppose is the honorific of penis. So in the end, this guy’s uniform is a joke in Japan.

Years ago, another similar name stood firm. Bob! Bob Owchinko with the “w”. Owchinko. I remember laughing every time an announcer would mention his name. “It’s Bob Dick pitching!” He played a 10 year career that remained fairly unremarkable, but he did carry that familiar name. Meanwhile, check out Kotaku‘s article that pokes more fun at meanings of foreign names in Japanese.