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誤爆 gobaku
Sent it to the wrong chat.
What does gobaku mean?
Literally "bombing the wrong target". That heart-stopping second when your message lands in the wrong group — or worse, on your public timeline.
Example
上司に送るはずのメッセージを誤爆した。
I sent the message meant for my boss to the wrong chat.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Friends only Casual. Natural with friends, out of place at work or with strangers.
The story behind gobaku
誤爆 is a military term. It means a bomb that landed on the wrong target, and Japanese newspapers still use it that way. The internet borrowed it for the smaller catastrophe of a message arriving in the wrong window, which tells you something about how the experience feels from the inside.
Online games sharpened it further, where typing into the all chat instead of party chat has ended friendships and revealed strategies. Messaging apps then handed everyone a daily chance to do it: the group for work colleagues sits directly above the group for complaining about work colleagues. The recall function exists, it leaves a visible notice, and everyone knows what that notice means.
Get gobaku in your pocket
誤爆 is one of 308 words in YABAI, a Japanese culture snack for Android. Every word comes with its meaning, an example sentence, a vibe check and a story like the one above — in 13 languages, read aloud by your device. Paid app: no ads, no sign-up, no subscription.
