When do you actually use o

Often you you see words like cha or shio written with an o in parenthesis and i wonder, when do you actually use o?

I also wonder in what place of Japan do you actually say Shake instead of sake for Salmnon.

The 'o' is for honorifics, i.e. very polite speech. http://selftaughtjapanese.com/2014/03/21/japanese-honorific-prefixes-%E3%81%8A-and-%E3%81%94-o-and-go/

I've experienced both shake and saamon for salmon.

There is an interesting story here.
http://www.tenki.jp/suppl/tomo_kouda/2015/12/09/8281.html

As for "o", they add "O" to the stuff when they think that stuff valuable or respectable.

For example, o-shio = salt was very important thing in old ages,
as it was thrown around to ward off the non good spirits.

The ancient Japanese people thought that foods were given from nature.

I think I understand what the OP is trying to say. While "o" is often used to make you sound polite or feminine, words like "cha" or "shio" are very commonly used with "o" (o-cha/o-shio) even among males when talking very casually. In fact, in the fifty odd years of being Japanese, I can't recall too many people saying "cha o irete kure." They always say "O-cha o irete kure" even if you're a guy.

On the other hand, there are words that you never put "o" on, such as "sekken" or "ki (tree)" among many others. I guess you just have to pick it up as you get used to the language.

Thank you for your answers. Yes i thought something like that, but wondered because there was o for sugar as well, but i guess it is like salt. I will learn it as i go, i just was worried about the feminin or being rude part.


The link is very interesting as well, to be honest my japanese is not sufficient enough to read it, but i definetly will come back to it once it is.