Ippai Kuwasu (一杯食わす – Pulling a Trick)

Both

English

Japanese

We sometimes use the phrase ‘ippai kuwasu‘ to mean to deceive someone well.

うまく誰かを騙すことを、日本語で「一杯食わす」と言うことがあります。

‘Ipppai‘ (一杯) means “a cup of something” or “a bowl of something,” and ‘kuwasu‘ (食わす) means “to feed someone” or “to have someone eat.”

「一杯」は “a cup of something” や “a bowl of something,” 「食わす」は “to feed someone” や “to have someone eat” を意味します。

That is to say, the literal meaning of ippai kuwasu is “to feed someone to a bowl of something” or “to have someone eat a bowl of something.”

すなわち「一杯食わす」とは、”to feed someone to a bowl of something” もしくは “to have someone eat a bowl of something” という意味になります。

According to the Internet, kuwasu can mean ‘damasu‘ (騙す – “deceive”), but I could not find the detailed etymology.

インターネットによると「食わす」という言葉に「騙す」という意味が含まれるようですが、詳細な由来はわかりませんでした。

Some people think that it comes from an old Japanese tale that a raccoon dog had a person eat a bowl of fake rice.

ある説によると、狸が人間をだまして偽物のご飯を食べさせたという昔話から来ているとのことです。