The polite こちら, そちら, あちら, どちら become こっち, そっち, あっち, どっち in everyday speech. どっち？ = “which one?”; こっちこっち！ = “over here!”. こっち can also mean “me” or “us”: こっちも緊張するよ = “I’m nervous too, you know”.
Everyday. Shop staff and formal speech keep こちら.
A comedian lists things that seem to come in two versions and wishes people would just make it clear.
Culture note The standard form is アボカド (abokado), but アボガド (abogado) is also widely heard, so many Japanese people are unsure which is correct.
Which is it?
Textbookどちらですか。Polite 「どちら」 becomes casual 「どっち」 (choice between two); 「ですか」 is dropped and rising intonation marks the question.
Someone is bluntly listing another person's shortcomings while that person listens.
Both.
Textbookどちらもです。Polite 「どちら」 (which of two) becomes casual 「どっち」; 「どっちも」 = 「どちらも」, 'both of them'.
Someone visiting a friend's home is introduced to the friend's three dogs one by one.
Culture note Kinoko no Yama is a popular mushroom-shaped chocolate snack; the three dogs' names together spell it.
And this little one here is Yama-chan.
Textbookこちらの小さい子がやまちゃんです。'こちら' shortens to 'こっち' in casual speech ('こっちの' = the one on this side); '小さい' likewise becomes 'ちっちゃい'.
Someone arrives with an umpire in tow, and another person asks where the umpire came from.
I borrowed the umpire from the national youth baseball tournament over there.
Textbookあちらの少年野球の全国大会からお借りしてきました。"あっち" is the casual form of "あちら" ("over there"), slipping into an otherwise polite sentence ending "お借りしてきました".
Someone keeps playing peekaboo over and over and admits they don't really mind it.
Me, I'm— I'm having fun.
Textbook私のほうは楽しいです。Casual 'こっち' replaces 'こちら' ('this side'); 'こっちは' here means 'as for me', contrasting with someone else. The repetition is a stammer.
From other routines in the library. Automatic transcripts, not yet checked line by line.
こっち／どっち means “this way / which one”. The polite こちら, そちら, あちら, どちら become こっち, そっち, あっち, どっち in everyday speech. どっち？ = “which one?”; こっちこっち！ = “over here!”. こっち can also mean “me” or “us”: こっちも緊張するよ = “I’m nervous too, you know”.
With friends: OK. With coworkers: OK. With a boss or teacher: careful. Everyday. Shop staff and formal speech keep こちら.
In 1,905 live comedy routines, こっち／どっち appears in 1,317 lines from 213 comedians.