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2021

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【No. 1787】Limited Graduation Ceremony

Mar 18, 2021 16:58
Limited Graduation Ceremony

Today, my university held a graduation ceremony at Nippon Budokan with restricted admission.

No graduates' families were allowed to attend, and only graduates and faculty members were able to attend.

Participation is not mandatory, and some graduates and faculty members were absent.

Although it was a limited graduation ceremony, I felt that it was a big change compared to the graduation ceremony last year that was canceled due to COVID-19.

Of course, attendees were required to go home promptly after the graduation ceremony.

I hope that we will be able to hold a thank-you party or a graduation party next year.
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【No. 1786】Jōhatsu (蒸発 - Evaporation/Missing)

Mar 17, 2021 23:43
Jōhatsu

Some people around me sometimes do jōhatsu (蒸発).

Jōhatsu means "evaporation," and it usually refers to the process that a liquid changes into the gas phase.

When the subject of "evaporation/evaporate" is a person, such as kare wa jōhatsu shita (彼は蒸発した - literally means "he evaporated"), it actually means "he went missing."

This expression says that just as an evaporated liquid is invisible, so is an evaporated person.

Incidentally, the process that a substance directly from the solid to the gas state is called shōka (昇華 - "sublimation"), but shōka is rarely used with a person as the subject.

When using it like kare wa shōka shita (彼は昇華した - literally means "he sublimated"), it means something like "he became a higher state (existence) than before".

【No. 1785】Takara no Mochigusare (宝の持ち腐れ - Better Spent Than Spared)

Mar 16, 2021 10:56
Takara no Mochigusare

I splashed out and bought a new car about a year ago.

However, COVID-19 has become pandemic since immediately after that, so I could rarely use the car.

I think that I have used my new car only about 10 times in the past year.

Such a situation can be described as takara no motigusare (宝の持ち腐れ).

Since takar (宝) means "treasure," mochi (持ち) means "have," and gusare/kusare (腐れ) means "rot," so takara no motigusare means "The treasure you have is rotting."

It implies that if one does not use something useful or talented that the one has, it will be a waste.
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【No. 1784】Toranpu (トランプ - "Playing Card")

Mar 15, 2021 15:24
Toranpu

"Playing card" is called toranpu (トランプ) in Japan.

Toranpu is a Japanese-English word and comes from "trump" of "trump card."

A playing card was imported from Portugal to Japan in the 16th century.

Because of this, a playing card was used to be called karuta (かるた), which comes from the Portuguese "carta."

At the end of the 19th century, Japanese people came to refer to a playing card as toranpu. The reason is believed that some Westerners who entered Japan used the word "trump" repeatedly while playing cards, and Japanese people misunderstood the name of the cards as "trump."
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【No. 1783】Harapeko (腹ペコ - Being Hungry)

Mar 14, 2021 16:43
Harapeko

When describing that you are hungry, you can use the casual term harapeko (腹ぺこ).

Hara (腹) means "stomach," and peko (ぺこ) is short for the onomatopoeia pekopeko (ぺこぺこ), which represents that something is dented.

As you can guess, this term comes from the fact that you feel your stomach is dented when being hungry.

You can also say onaka ga pekopeko (お腹がぺこぺこ) without abbreviation. Here, ‘onaka’ (お腹) is a polite expression for ‘hara’ (腹).

Incidentally, the onomatopoeia pekopeko can also represent that someone bows many times.
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【No. 1782】Hara ga Hette wa Ikusa ga Dekinu (腹が減っては戦ができぬ - An Army Marches on Its Stomach)

Mar 13, 2021 21:40
Hara ga Hette wa Ikusa ga Dekinu

In my post yesterday, I introduced the phrase onaka ga heru (お腹が減る), which means "being hungry" and is also called hara ga heru (腹が減る).

There is a proverb that uses this word, hara ga hette wa ikusa ga dekinu (腹が減っては戦ができぬ).

Since ikusa means "battle" and dekinu means "cannot," the literal meaning of this proverb is "You cannot do battle when you are hungry."

Here, "battle" implies various jobs and things, and this provern says that you need to sate your hunger first to do anything.
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【No. 1781】Onaka ga Heru (お腹が減る - Being Hungry)

Mar 12, 2021 23:07
Onaka ga Heru

Japanese people say onaka ga suku (お腹が空く) or onaka ga heru (お腹が減る) to represent being hungry.

Onaka (お腹) means "stomach," '空く' means "to be empty," and heru (減る) means "to decrease."

That is to say, the literal meanings of onaka ga suku and onaka ga heru are "one's stomach is empty" and "one's stomach decreases," respectively.

You can see that "one's stomach is empty" literally means hungry, whereas you may feel that "one's stomach reduced" sounds strange.

Perhaps the subject of the verb "decrease" does not the stomach itself, but food in the stomach.

Incidentally, onaka ga heru sounds a little more casual than onaka ga suku.
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【No. 1780】First International Conference in a While

Mar 11, 2021 14:37
First International Conference in a While

Today, I participated in an international conference and made a presentation in English for the first time in about two years.

It was an online conference using Zoom, but I was very nervous. In particular, the problem was the question and answer session after my presentation.

I was not confident that I could answer English questions immediately and well.

Since the first question was simple, I managed to answer it.

However, I could not understand the intent of the second question.

Eventually, I had no idea what to say, and barely said "umm, it's a difficult question for me...," then the questioner said something like "okay" and the session was over.

I must study harder.
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【No. 1779】Pien Koete Paon (ぴえんこえてぱおん)

Mar 10, 2021 15:13
Pien Koete Paon

In my post yesterday, I introduced you to the net slang pien (ぴえん), which represents crying.

Pien is often used to express a slight change in emotion.

If you want to express stronger emotions than pien, you can say pien koete paon (ぴえんこえてぱおん).

Koete (こえて) means "over" or "beyond," and paon (ぱおん) is short for the elephant's bark paōn (ぱおーん).

In other words, this phrase represents a feeling that you want to cry loudly like an elephant, beyond the feeling of pien.

You can also say just paon instead of pien.
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【No. 1778】Pien (ぴえん - Sobbing)

Mar 9, 2021 12:30
Pien

Have you ever heard of the term pien (ぴえん)?

Pien is an onomatopoeia that represents crying, which has been widely used among young Japanese people on SNSs since around the end of 2018.

Pien came from the voice when a child crying, piēn (ぴえーん), and you can feel free to use the term in various situations such as you are sad or happy.

In addition, it is often used with an emoticon that has moist eyes and a troubled face (Pleading Face); the emoticon itself is sometimes called pien.

In fact, the emoticon will appear when converting with ぴえん on recent smartphones.

【No. 1777】International Women's Day

Mar 8, 2021 11:13
International Women's Day

Today, March 8 is International Women's Day.

The United Nations has designated March 8 as International Women's Day since 1987, and various events have been held in the world.

However, I heard the news that a Swedish ambassador to Japan said that he does not like this day.

According to the news, he said "It is strange to celebrate only this day as Women's Day," "Why can we celebrate even though we are in an unequal state," and "Every day should be a day of gender equality."

Indeed, I think that that is right.

On this day, it is perhaps better to think and discuss gender equality than to celebrate.
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【No. 1776】Omagari Neko (尾曲がり猫 - Cats with Bent Tails)

Mar 7, 2021 16:41
Omagari Neko

Yesterday, I introduced you to the term kagishippo (かぎしっぽ), which represents a tail of a cat bent like a key.

Such cats with kagishippo are also called as omagari neko (尾曲がり猫).

O (尾) means "tail," magari (曲がり) means "bent," and neko (猫) means "cat," so omagari neko literally means a cat with a bent tail.

To tell you the truth, there are many such cats in Japan.

In particular, about 80% of cats are omagari neko in Nagasaki prefecture.

It is said that this is because Japanese people have believed that cats with long and straight tails could become monsters called nekomata (猫又) and have especially cherished cats with short and bent tails.

【No. 1775】Kagishippo (かぎしっぽ - Kinked Tail)

Mar 6, 2021 22:07
Kagishippo

There are many stray cats living around my apartment.

Around noon today, a stray cat that crossed in front of me had kagisippo (かぎしっぽ).

Kagi (かぎ) means "key," shippo (しっぽ) means "tail," and kagishippo (かぎしっぽ) is a term for representing a tail of a cat bent like a key.

A cat's tail is commonly composed of 18 to 20 coccygeal vertebrae, and it becomes kagishippo when a part of the coccygeal vertebrae deforms or fuses.

Cats with kagishippo have been believed to protect property in Japan and China, and they have been cherished as auspicious cats.

Also in European countries, it seems that such cats are treated as auspicious cats.
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【No. 1774】Jūbako no Sumi wo Tsutsuku (重箱の隅をつつく - Quibbling on Insignificant Detail)

Mar 5, 2021 12:51
Jūbako no Sumi wo Tsutsuku

In my post the day before yesterday, I introduced the word jūbako (重箱), which means multitiered boxes in which food is stored.

There is an idiom that uses this word, jūbako no sumi wo tsutsuku (重箱の隅をつつく).

Since sumi (隅) means "corner" and tsutsuku (つつく) means "to poke," the literal meaning of jūbako no sumi wo tsutsuku is "to poke a corner of multitiered boxes for storing food."

Since the shape of jūbako is a rectangular parallelepiped, some food often remains in the corners.

Compared to poking and eating the food left in the corner of jūbako, this idiom means to pick up insignificant things and quibble about that.

I do not like to quibble about insignificant things, but I want to eat the food left in the corner of jūbako.
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【No. 1773】Yutō Yomi (湯桶読み - Mixed Reading of Japanese and Chinese)

Mar 4, 2021 13:26
Yutō Yomi

I introduced you to the expression jūbako yomi (重箱読み) yesterday, which means a term that is read as a mixture of a Chinese reading and a Japanese reading.

When the order of Chinese and Japanese readings is reversed, it is called yutō yomi (湯桶読み).

Yu (湯) means "hot water," tō (桶) means "bowl," and yutō (湯桶) means a traditional Japanese beverage container.

Here, yu is a Japanese reading and tō (桶) is a Chinese reading.

Since yomi (読み) means "reading," yutō yomi means a term that is read as a mixture of a Japanese and a Chinese reading in this order.

Incidentally, 湯桶 can read as yuoke with only Japanese reading, in which case it generally means "wash-basin."
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【No. 1772】Jūbako Yomi (重箱読み - Mixed Reading of Chinese and Japanese)

Mar 3, 2021 20:32
Jūbako Yomi

In my post yesterday, I explained that it is not standard to read 代替 as daigae (だいがえ).

When the reading of 代替 is daigae (だいがえ), 代 is the Chinese reading, whereas 替 is the Japanese reading.

The combination of the Chinese and Japanese readings in this way is called jūbako yomi (重箱読み) in Japanese.

Jū (重) means "overlap," bako/hako (箱) means "box," and the combination jūbako (重箱) means multitiered boxes in which food is stored.

Here, jū is the Chinese reading, and bako is the Japanese reading.

In addition, yomi (読み) means "reading."

That is to say, jūbako yomi means a term that is read as a mixture of a Chinese reading and a Japanese reading like jūbako.

【No. 1771】Daitai (代替 - Alternative)

Mar 2, 2021 09:45
Daitai

Yesterday, I was working all day and could not write a post on Lang-8.

My daily English learning goal on Lang-8 is to write more than 100 words.

In my work yesterday, I wrote over 1000 English words, so I would like to regard this task as daitai (代替) of yesterday's learning goal.

Since the kanji 替 is often used in the readings of kae (かえ) or gae (がえ), I feel that many Japanese people mistakenly read 代替 as daigae.

To tell you the truth, the reading daigae is listed in Japanese dictionaries as a special reading, but it is not a normative one.
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【No. 1770】Ping Pong Dash (ピンポンダッシュ - Ding-dong Ditch)

Feb 28, 2021 16:04
Ping Pong Dash

Recently in Japan, food delivery services such as "Uber Eats" and "Demaekan" have become widespread, but I heard that "DoorDash" has the top market share in the US.

I also heard that "DoorDash" came to Japan in January 2021.

It seems to provide high-quality service, but the company name could be liable to remind Japanese people of ping pong dash (ピンポンダッシュ).

Ping pong (ピンポン) is the sound of a doorbell, dash (ダッシュ) literally means "dash," and ping pong dash means mischief that someone rings a doorbell and runs away.

Strictly speaking, this act is criminal, and you could be charged in "violation of anti-nuisance regulations" or "house-breaking," so please do not do that.
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【No. 1769】Asemizu wo Tarasu (汗水をたらす - Sweating Over One's Work)

Feb 27, 2021 23:05
Asemizu wo Tarasu

I have been working while doing asemizu wo tarasu (汗水をたらす) lately.

Ase (汗) means "sweat," mizu (水) means "water," and tarasu (たらす) means "to drop (something)," so the literal meaning of asemizu wo tarasu is "to drop sweat" or "sweat drops."

As you can guess, this idiom implies that you work so much that you sweat.

Of course, I am not actually sweating because it is cold.

In English, it can be expressed as "to sweat over one's work" or "to break one's back."

【No. 1768】Iki wo Nomu Utsukushisa (息を呑む美しさ - Breathtaking Beauty)

Feb 26, 2021 17:29
Iki wo Nomu Utsukushisa

Lately, I work while seeing natural landscape videos on a display installed at the back of my desk.

I played a Russian landscape video today.

The beautiful scene was played continuously, but the scenery of jewel-like ice (probably Lake Bikal) was breathtaking.

In the last Japanese sentence, I added iki wo nomu (息を呑む) before utukushisa (美しさ), meaning "beauty."

Iki (息) means "breath" and nomu (呑む) means "to drink/swallow."

That is to say, iki wo nomu implies that you are so surprised that you hold your breath for a moment, and it can emphasize adjectives.

Today's work did not go well very much because I was fascinated by the video.