Slang Expression #4 - Mentalist
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The introduction to this series of articles can be found here
Definition: Mentalist (noun) A person who engages in strange or crazy behaviour; Mentalist (adjective) strange or crazy
Example sentence: “I’ll never go to the Log Kit Hamburger Restaurant in Sasebo ever again. I had to wait an eternity for my food, the hamburgers were average and the owner is a total mentalist”
Explanation: Unlike most of the expressions on the My Favourite Slang list – which have no direct translation or widely known equivalent in Japanese language – ‘mentalist’ is basically the same as the word henjin in Japanese, meaning a ‘strange or crazy person’. There are actually numerous ways to convey this idea in English, varying in intensity from ‘eccentric’ to ‘weirdo’ to ‘freak’; ‘Mentalist’ falls somewhere between ‘weirdo’ and ‘freak’, ranging from mildly derogatory to mildly offensive depending on the context it’s used in.
The expression became popular in the UK after it was used in the ‘To Kill A Mocking Alan’ episode of BBC TV comedy I’m Alan Partridge, originally broadcast in 1996. In this episode (the best scenes of which can be found on YouTube) the main character comes face to face with his ‘biggest fan’, a stalker who exemplifies mentalist behaviour perfectly.
Short-term visitors to Japan will undoubtedly be surprised to see a lot of behaviour that would seem unusual outside of Japan - the excessive welcome calls of shop/restaurant staff or the occasional otaku (nerd) dressed up as their favourite manga/anime character, for example - but are unlikely to see many true mentalists.
For long-term foreign residents however, the likelihood of encountering mentalists is far greater. Taking trains so frequently - as the majority of people in Japan have to - greatly increases your chances of encountering mentalists, both the harmless variety (talking or singing to themselves) and the surprisingly-prevalent sexual deviant variety (subjecting others to anti-social behaviour such as indecent exposure, chikan and upskirt photography).
Perhaps the foreign residents most likely to meet mentalists though are those who teach at eikaiwa (conversation schools), where the idea of paying for a captive audience of listeners attracts a lot of people who have trouble interacting with others in real-life situations. Creepy and bizarre behaviour, strange and unwarranted complaints, and unbelievably inept social skills are typical indications of mentalist behaviour, and the subject of many tales I’ve heard from eikaiwa teachers over the years.
Acting out scenes from ‘Bleach’ in Osaka-jo Park - Normal or mentalist behaviour?
Background: As well as being a great word to describe strange people and behaviour, ‘mentalist’ is also interesting from a cultural and linguistic point of view as it’s one of several British slang expressions related to mental health and disability; Despite being arguably the most overly politically correct country in the world, the UK actually has an unusually large number of these expressions, and while some (eg ‘mad’, ‘crazy’, ‘mentalist’) are socially acceptable, others are more derogatory and offensive.
The proliferation of these negative expressions can largely be attributed to the kids’ TV programme Blue Peter, which misguidedly attempted to raise awareness of mental health issues in 1981 by focusing on the life of Joey Deacon, who suffered from cerebral palsy. Unsurprisingly Blue Peter’s audience lacked the maturity to understand and accept Deacon’s disability and instead focused on his impeded movement and speech. Imitation of these became widespread among British school children and an array of insults - ‘Joey Deacon’, ’spastic’, ’spacka’ and ‘mongol’, to name only a few - were popularised.
The fallout from Blue Peter’s Joey Deacon fiasco had a lasting effect on British attitudes to mental health and disability, with derogatory slang still accepted by many people but a great deal of sensitivity surrounding language used in the media. The Spastic Society’s decision to stop using the word ’spastic’ and change its name to Scope in 1994 is one example of this sensitivity, while another is the word ‘handicapped’ - still used in other English-speaking countries - becoming unacceptable in the British media, ‘physically-’ or ‘mentally-challenged’ now being the politically correct expressions used instead.