Yausumono Gai no Zeni Ushinai (安物買いの銭失い – Penny Wise and Pound Foolish)
Yausumono Gai no Zeni Ushinai
安物買いの銭失い
I like to go to 100-yen shops, however, after buying something, it sometimes breaks down soon.
私は100円ショップが好きですが、たまに、買ってもすぐに壊れてしまうことがあります。
To describe such a situation, you can use the Japanese proverb yasumono gai no zeni ushinai (安物買いの銭失い).
このようなことを表すことわざに、「安物買いの銭失い」があります。
Since yasu (安) means “cheap,” mono (物) means “thing,” gai/kai (買い) means “to buy,” zeni (銭) means “money,” and ushinai (失い) means “to lose,” yasumono gai no zeni ushinai literally means “to buy cheap things and lose money.”
「安」は “cheap”、「物」は “thing”、「買い」は “to buy”、「銭」は “money”、「失い」は “to lose” を意味するので、「安物買いの銭失い」の意味は文字どおり “to buy cheap things and lose money” となります。
In other words, the quality of cheap things is often poor, so buying cheap goods means losing more money for replacement or repair.
安いものは品質が悪く、結局修理や買い替えのため、かえって高くつくかもしれないというわけです。
