Words don't divide only between masculine and feminine, but also between comic and tragic.

Reading note

The Disqualified One

by Dazai Osamu — read in May 2026

In the book the protagonist plays a game with a friend. A game with great literary taste. They try to understand which words are comic or tragic. Words don't divide only between masculine and feminine, singular and plural, but also between comic and tragic. Words like nave a vapore or treno are tragic, while tram and autobus are comic. It's used to talk about art and to judge whether the author, by placing the right words in the right place, is someone who understands or a fool.

The other game is finding antonyms, the opposite. With excellent results. The opposite of flower? The opposite of moon, the opposite of woman...