Talk:Shalltear Bloodfallen/@comment-86.57.244.10-20150821144318/@comment-212.149.222.192-20150822100236

I'm a bit confused that this has turned into an argument about geishas and prostitutes, since that (too popular) debate kind of misses the point in my opinion. Kuruwa kotoba was used in various locations like in Yoshiwara. Yoshiwara was a famous red-light district, and in addition to prostitutes and courtesans you could find geishas there.

Kuruwa kotoba is also called oiran kotoba and arinsu kotoba. Explaining what these different names mean might help in making the situation clear. First, kotoba means simply words as people somewhat versed in Japanese might know. Kuruwa means red-light district in this context, and oiran were a type of courtesans that were well educated.

Interestingly, geisha became more popular as the popularity of oiran waned. I recommend googling for various things like "oiran" and possibly for "yoshiwara", though the English sources for the history of kuruwa kotoba and oiran kotoba seem to be somewhat limited.

Finally, as Kubi9 kindly pointed out, de arimasu is a formal copula. One of the characteristics of kuruwa kotoba is that "de arimasu" is changed into "de arinsu", like you can notice in Shalltear's speech especially in the Japanese light novels. In addition to "masu"s turning into "nsu"s, there are of course other differences too.

Also it is pretty funny that at times Shalltear reverts to "normal" speech, for example when she's complaining in the bar in the volume 4.