仕様

• 読み: しよう
• ローマ字: shiyou
• 漢字の分解: 仕 (do/serve) + 様 (manner/way) → the way something is done → specification/design
• 発音: /ɕi.joː/

意味

Specification or 'it's by design' — used humorously to dismiss a bug or problem as an intentional feature.

While 仕様 literally means 'specification' or 'design,' in tech and gaming culture it is famously used as a tongue-in-cheek excuse: バグじゃなくて仕様です (it's not a bug, it's a feature). This phrase has become a running joke in Japanese internet culture, applied to everything from actual software oddities to absurd real-life situations. It implies that something seemingly broken is actually working as intended — usually said with heavy irony.

例文

1. このバグ報告したら「仕様です」って返ってきた。
2. 電車がいつも遅れるのは仕様なのかな。
3. バグじゃなくて仕様ですって言い訳として最強だよね。

使い方ガイド

場面: gaming, tech, internet culture, casual conversation

トーン: ironic, humorous

正しい言い方

• 「仕様です」って言っとけば何でも許されると思ってるでしょ。 (You think saying 'it's by design' excuses everything, don't you?)
• この不便さも仕様らしいよ。 (Apparently this inconvenience is 'by design.')

避ける言い方

• ユーザーからの正当なバグ報告に「仕様です」と返すのは炎上する (Responding to a legitimate bug report with 'it's a feature' will cause backlash)

よくある間違い

• Not catching the ironic tone — when someone says 仕様 in this context, they are almost always being sarcastic

起源と歴史

仕様 (specification/design) has been a standard technical term for decades. The ironic usage バグじゃなくて仕様です (it's not a bug, it's a feature) became a meme in Japanese internet and gaming culture in the 2000s, mirroring the English-language joke.

文化的背景

時代: 2000s gaming/internet culture

世代: Teens to 40s

社会的背景: Internet/gaming culture, tech workers

地域メモ: Used across all of Japan. The joke mirrors the global 'it's not a bug, it's a feature' meme but feels very natural in Japanese.