Seriously. Cut it out.
PET PEEVE:
"For Kami's sake" or "Thank Kami".
神, [kami]. (n) god; deity; divinity; spirit; kami.
Okay, I am not an expert on Japanese religion. But I did get a fair bit of studying during a Japanese culture class, on specific points. This was one of them. I am repeating it as it was explained to me, so if there is a discrepancy in the details, feel free to correct. This is just kind of an overall WHY YOU SHOULD NOT DO THIS thing.
'Kami' is not a singular entity. You see, yes, the word can be translated as 'God'. But it doesn't mean the monotheistic God, it means 'god' in the sense of a title. Not a name, like the Western Judaeo-Christian 'God'. Kami are (NOTE THE PLURAL) a mixed concept. Because Japanese religious traditions are a mish-mash of Shinto and Buddhism (with a twist of Western traditions they think are shiny, like Christian style weddings) kami is a term that covers a lot. It can mean Shinto-style spirits (roughly correlating to the Western 'soul' concept, only not limited to humans) or specific Shinto gods (like Ameterasu), Buddhist-style Bodhisattva, etc. 'Kami' is a classification of being, not anyone specific.
'Kamisama' is a reference to a specific being, usually the one you are directly appealing to or (in some stories) appears before you. It's also a title, the way "Your Majesty" is a title; you call them that because it's respectful and their official title, not his name. When you are at a shrine, the shrine will often have a specific deity the shrine is for, and then when you pray, you're appealing to THAT SPIRIT.
I can understand people getting confused on this, because translations usually just substitute "Oh my god!" whenever a 'kami' reference is made, but the two are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. Kami CAN refer to gods, but does not mean the same thing as the Western "God."
So please. Stop thinking you're all cool by inserting "kami" when you mean "God". It's really, really annoying.
MONOTHEISM, THIS IS NOT. >:/
"For Kami's sake" or "Thank Kami".
神, [kami]. (n) god; deity; divinity; spirit; kami.
Okay, I am not an expert on Japanese religion. But I did get a fair bit of studying during a Japanese culture class, on specific points. This was one of them. I am repeating it as it was explained to me, so if there is a discrepancy in the details, feel free to correct. This is just kind of an overall WHY YOU SHOULD NOT DO THIS thing.
'Kami' is not a singular entity. You see, yes, the word can be translated as 'God'. But it doesn't mean the monotheistic God, it means 'god' in the sense of a title. Not a name, like the Western Judaeo-Christian 'God'. Kami are (NOTE THE PLURAL) a mixed concept. Because Japanese religious traditions are a mish-mash of Shinto and Buddhism (with a twist of Western traditions they think are shiny, like Christian style weddings) kami is a term that covers a lot. It can mean Shinto-style spirits (roughly correlating to the Western 'soul' concept, only not limited to humans) or specific Shinto gods (like Ameterasu), Buddhist-style Bodhisattva, etc. 'Kami' is a classification of being, not anyone specific.
'Kamisama' is a reference to a specific being, usually the one you are directly appealing to or (in some stories) appears before you. It's also a title, the way "Your Majesty" is a title; you call them that because it's respectful and their official title, not his name. When you are at a shrine, the shrine will often have a specific deity the shrine is for, and then when you pray, you're appealing to THAT SPIRIT.
I can understand people getting confused on this, because translations usually just substitute "Oh my god!" whenever a 'kami' reference is made, but the two are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE. Kami CAN refer to gods, but does not mean the same thing as the Western "God."
So please. Stop thinking you're all cool by inserting "kami" when you mean "God". It's really, really annoying.
MONOTHEISM, THIS IS NOT. >:/