"Otokonohito" vs "otoko"?
I am studying Japanese through livemocha and was given vocab at the beginning of my lesson which included the words otokonohito, onnanohito (as well as otonoko and onnanoko) and the sentences "Watashi wa otoko desu", "Watashi wa onna desu.".
I wanted to know two things actually. First, shouldn't "otokonohito" be "otoko no hito"? Second, why did they use just "otoko/onna" instead of "Watashi wa onna no hito desu"? When do I know if I'm allowed to use "otoko" as opposed to "otokonohito"?
Comments
"Otoko/onna" is impolite, so it's quite all right if you refer to yourself,
but if you refer to other people as "otoko/onna," it sounds rude.
And "otoko/onna" sounds like "boyfriend/girlfriend" or even "lover/mistress" very often.
Conversely, if you say "otoko/onna no hito" referring to yourself, it sounds weird.
We also say just "ano hito" regardless of gender.
By the way, "otoko/onna no hito" sounds informal, and as written language,
"dansei/josei" is used instead.
They're basically the same. Otoko no hito (it doesn't matter if you use spaces or not because there are no spaces in real Japanese) is a little more polite than just plain otoko. There is also dansei (man) and josei (woman) that are a little more polite than otoko/onna no hito.