i remember hearing this when i got older. also my big cousins were making fun of the slang when i was little too and i thought that when they said penis they ment pencil. *sigh* your so innocent when your little

I read and it is nothing new for me.Please check the title of games,anime,movies.NINTENDO USE "POCKET MONSTER" FROM FIRST IN JAPAN.
It doesn't mean they don't use POKEMON at all now.
FIRST

Can you read "モンスターをとりかえっこ"?
If today, they would use ポケモン.

LATEST


If you know the US ver. merchandise which is named pocket monster,please tell me.

thank you.You are the person I want.Where did you and big cousins live at that time?The American South？And when?

Tsurezure, you seem determined to prove yourself correct without considering the opinions of those that don't agree with you.


Here is a likely answer, according to the writers of "Pokemonstory"

略称及び漢字圏以外での呼称は「ポケモン (Pokémon) 」。モンスターボールに入るとポケットに入るから、ポ ケモンという愛称が付けられている

What are you talking about?
"As I said above,I don't think you guys know the truth.HereI just want to know the major premises is correct or not ."Pocket monster" is a slang for penis?"

"@StonerPenguin
Thanks.Your answer is exactly what I wanted."
StonePenguin had answered "I can't say I've ever heard the term "Pocket Monster" in a sexual sense "
He denied the existence of　the slang from his experience.

In this thread, I don't want OPINIONS and speculation about Nintendo naming plan.
I'm just asking"Pocket monster" is a slang for penis?"
StonerPenguin answered no in bible belt.Misamisa answered no in England.tohruchan7　answered his/her big cousin used.MMM answered no in the Pacific NW.
Thank you everyone.Your answers are exactly what I wanted.

Strictly speaking, this is a little off topic.
Ok,I tell you my opinion "I don't know and You don't know.Only Nintendo knows ,but they don't tell."

When Nintendo actually don't use because it is a slang,do you think the writers of "Pokemonstory" would say"略称及び漢字圏以外での呼称は「ポケモン (Pokémon) 」。モンスターボールに入るとポケットに入るから、ポ ケモンという愛称が付けられている。また、英語圏の一 部ではpocket　monster　はペニスを意味するスラングであ� �ため、pocket monsterという正式名称は英語圏では用いられていない。� �?

I do not think that the word is well known slang, and I have never heard it used to refer to a penis... HOWEVER, there is virtually no doubt whatsoever that someone (countless people with a schoolyard sense of humor, no doubt) would find it either hilarious or offensive because it COULD be interpreted that way. "Pocket" something or other is very common in slang for penis, as is "monster". I have heard "Monster in my pocket" used to carry that meaning. Putting the two together is about as close as you can get to slang without actually being slang.

But I highly doubt this had a huge bearing on why it was not called Pocket Monster outside Japan. It is a lot more likely that it was merely a marketing and localisation decision. While "Pocket Monster" sounds "cool" in Japanese, it sounds a bit stiff in English. Especially when there is no strong culture of shortening names as there is in Japanese.

Pocket Monster is the original official name in Japan. This was shortened by children as it gained popularity, just as countless other words are shortened. MMM gave some good examples.

Pokemon is now close to officially called Pokemon instead of Pocket Monster - the company producing it is no longer directly Nintendo, but a split off individual company called "Pokemon". The Pocket Monster name hangs around mostly as a token of the past. This is to do with familiarity, and has little or nothing to do with the name given outside Japan.

I'm not too old, but I remember when it came out in America. I had Nintendo Power back then and there was an article about how big it was in Japan. It talked about "Pocket Monster", which was known as "pokemon". My friend who lived down the street had some kind of promotinoal VHS tape from Nintendo before it came to America and was all excited about it. He called me over to check it out... I don't think I really remembered the article I had read before by then though. It talked about "Pokemon" and how it was going to be huge. I remember thinking that it wasn't going to be very big, but I'd get it so I could play it with my friend. (it's funny to think of how wrong I was!) I think that was the summer... I don't quite remember.

I remember going back to school and after a while EVERYBODY had the game. It was so huge it was crazy. I had it too, of course. We were all young, so of course we thought of THAT when we heard the game's title meant "poket monster" in Japanese. Only the dorky kids knew that much about it anyways, so everyone else would laugh when they heard people saying "poket monster" or pronouncing pokemon the Japanese way instead of (pokey-man).

So to answer your question, I don't recall ever hearing the phrase "pocket monster" before then though. I do recall thinking exactly what we're talking about when I first heard the phrase though.

umm i was like eight or ten. and it was in southern california and i think my cousins were like in high school at that time so they spoke a totally different language then what a ten year old would know

I thought it was because Nintendo thought the name would clash with Monster in My Pocket so they changed it to the Japanese abbreviation?

Japan has a long history of changing the names of things before they release them in the west, look at a list of Street Fighter characters for example.

They think that we won't think its cool if something has a Japanese name, yet in reality, we like things better in their origional form.