# Engineering term, possibly Japanese **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778 "2013-07-06T07:35:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/1 "2013-07-06T07:35:54Z")
My Dad is a mechanical Engineer and used to do a lot of Aerospace stuff. We were working on a valve assembly project some years ago, and he said the parts were “insert probably Japanese term with probably two words with two syllables each”. The term meant that the part was formed in a way that they could not be inserted backwards because of a physical restriction in the part. He can’t remember what term I mean sadly. I want to say it was alliterative as well, something like "Kani Kari’ or similar. Anyone familiar with this? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Surb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Surb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Surb)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/2 "2013-07-06T09:57:58Z")
Poka yoke? It means mistake proof or error proof. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/3 "2013-07-06T11:09:30Z")
If it’s a Japanese term, the second word is almost certainly _kanri_, which means “management.” Going by the pronunciation, the closest match would be: 危機管理 _Kiki kanri_ -\> Crisis / risk management It would match the meaning in a general way, in that having parts that only fit one way helps reduce the odds of failure, and is thus a good risk management practice. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/4 "2013-07-06T13:42:31Z")
> [@The\_Surb](#): > > Poka yoke? It means mistake proof or error proof. If it was really a Japanese term, this seems the most likely one to me. Wikipedia does have a [category of Japanese business terms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Japanese_business_terms), as well as a [category of Japanese words and phrases](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Japanese_words_and_phrases), if the OP would like to browse around. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/5 "2013-07-06T13:47:43Z")
> [@The\_Surb](#): > > Poka yoke? It means mistake proof or error proof. This. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/6 "2013-07-06T13:50:34Z")
Perhaps “kiri-kaki” which means notch, slot, or groove. This is the term used for the keying notch on a connector. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/7 "2013-07-09T06:35:46Z")
> [@The\_Surb](#): > > Poka yoke? It means mistake proof or error proof. I think this was it. Many thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/8 "2013-07-09T14:37:17Z")
> [@The\_Surb](#): > > Poka yoke? It means mistake proof or error proof. Definitely this. I teach Mechanical Engineering and we use this term all the time. I believe it was coined by Shigeo Shingo of Toyota and it does indeed mean “mistake proofing.” He first used the Japanese term for “fool-proofing” but he found that the term was offensive to the workers, so he changed it. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-term-possibly-japanese/662778/9 "2013-07-10T01:51:38Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Definitely this. I teach Mechanical Engineering and we use this term all the time. I believe it was coined by Shigeo Shingo of Toyota and it does indeed mean “mistake proofing.” He first used the Japanese term for “fool-proofing” but he found that the term was offensive to the workers, so he changed it. So the original term would have been _baka-yoke_. Interesting story. I’d never actually heard either term before, but the nuance of _poka-yoke_ is “blunder proofing”, without sounding particularly mean.