Male pronouns - boku vs ore

What do college age males tend to use more when they speak with friends or acquaintances?

I hear both young and older men using "boku" so that seems to be most common/neutral?

What about "ore"? Is it only used among guy friends? I know "ore" is not supposed to be used in formal situations.

Could someone explain the differences and help me understand better? Google gives me so many different answers, but I want to compare with some more perspectives. Thank you!

The formal pronoun for "I," for both males AND females, are "watashi." That would be the standard when people talk to their teachers/professors, bosses, senior relatives, etc.

"boku" is used, in my mind, by boys, so it should stop at age 15, 16, or so, at most by end of senior high school (age 18), but college guys do use it. AND guys in their 50s use it to show that they are "young at heart" or that they are not conforming to the standard, being "different" :)

"ore" is used by guys maybe from high school onwards, so, yes, college boys included, as somewhat "macho" style. And also by men far older when they want to show that they are "different" and "going my way, like a man gotta do."


Now the above is a view by one Japanese woman in her late 40s, so I am sure there will be differing opinions expressed here about what it appropriate, from both genders of different age groups :)

In Japanese, a little boy in wealthy families has been called as "bocchan",and a little girl as "o-jyo-chan(san)". therefore, boku sounds like wealthy or rich. Watashi or watakushi is formal (and neutral). the formal way is far from un-wealthy people who use "ore" as I. thus, the same person generally does not use boku and ore.
school teachers generally teach in formal way.
the word usages have been derived from their whole life, especially from young age. speaking is the presentation of your(our) sophistication and education, in Japan.

my advice is:
do not use "ore" in ordinary conversation, otherwise sometimes you may use it unexpectedly in inappropriate time. it often happens even if as Japanese. we say those situations "化けの皮が剥がれる(bake no kawa ga hagareru)".
bake = pretending myself to be a good person
kawa = skin, face mask
hagareru = be broken, be stripped off

What do college age males tend to use more when they speak with friends or acquaintances?

If you're asking about what "college age males" should "use more when they speak with friends or acquaintances," the safest is definately "boku."

But if you're asking what they tend to use, it depends on his character. There are guys who dislike "boku" and then there are guys who dislike "ore." Meanwhile, "watashi" may sound too snobish depending on who you are talking to, if you are college-age.

I hear both young and older men using "boku" so that seems to be most common/neutral?

If you're talking about "college age" (18 to roughly 22 years old), yes. If you're talking about older adults, that's not necessarily so. But there are indeed people in their 60s or 80s or 90s who use "boku" and in my experience it has little to do with how they feel about themselves. I think it has more to do with what sort of people they've been socializing with. For example, office workers in Tokyo commonly use "boku" in a casual situation regardless of their age. You may notice that by watching Japanese TV.

What about "ore"? Is it only used among guy friends? I know "ore" is not supposed to be used in formal situations.

"Ore" is used to all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, except for formal situations, and most men go back and forth "boku/ore/watashi." It's kind of like going back and forth "yes/yeah/uh-huh."

Anyway, again, if you are a college-age male, you should stick to "boku" unless you are doing a job interview. You will learn about the differences between boku/ore/watashi as you have more conversation with Japanese males.

I know "ore" is not supposed to be used in formal situations.

Surely not.
"Ore" can imply a naughty, haughty or self-confident character, but the character is not always the speaker’s true character but sometimes a character which the speaker plays.

ken: we say those situations "化けの皮が剥がれる(bake no kawa ga hagareru)".

I suppose " お里が知れる [osato ga shireru] " is more suitable for such a happening. It means that a person’s upbringing is betrayed. Using "ore" inappropriately in a formal situation can make a listener presume that the speaker has not got trained well to use "watashi" / "watakushi" instead.
里 [sato] here means a homeland.
知れる [shireru] here means to be revealed.
(cf. 知られる [shirareru] means to be known to people.)

When "boku" or "ore" is used in a plural form, "bokutachi" / "bokura" sounds to me rather friendly to others while "oretachi" / "orera" sounds to me rather closed or exclusive. If a male college or university student recruits new members of his circle, I suppose "bokutachi" / "bokura" is better.