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【No. 1422】聞く and 聴く (Listen/Hear)

Nov 9, 2018 19:55
聞く and 聴く

I often "listen" to popular music.

Besides, these days I often hear the sound of rain.

In English, you can use the verb "listen" when you pay attention to the sounds coming into your ears, whereas you can use the verb "hear" when you are aware of sounds coming through your ears.

On the other hand, Japanese people say kiku (きく) in both cases -- we do not distinguish between those pronunciations.

However, kiku can be written as kanji in two different ways; 聞く and 聴く;

聞く can be used to mean both "listen" and "hear," whereas 聴く can be used to mean only "listen."
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【No. 1421】Shippo wo Dasu (尻尾を出す - Revealing One's Secret Unintentionally)

Nov 8, 2018 17:16
Shippo wo Dasu

Yesterday, I introduced you to the idion boro ga deru (ぼろが出る), which means to reveal one's secret faults/weaknesses unintentionally.

There is another idiom, shippo wo dasu (尻尾を出す), which has the similar meaning of this.

Shippo (尻尾) means "tail" and dasu (出す) means "to come out" or "to reveal," so the literal meaning of shippo wo dasu is "to reveal one's tail."

Here, the tail represents the tail of a raccoon dog or fox -- Japanese people have believed that raccoon dogs and foxes deceive people by changing their figure.

Even if they change their figure into something else, you can detect the truth by seeing their tail, so shippo wo dasu has come to mean that someone reveals his/her secret unintentionally.
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【No. 1420】Boro ga Deru (ぼろが出る - Letting One's Fault Reveal Unexpectedly)

Nov 7, 2018 22:30
Boro ga Deru

Have you ever let your secret faults reveal unexpectedly?

Such a situation can be described as boro ga deru (ぼろが出る) in Japanese.

Boro (ぼろ) means shabby clothes, and it comes from an onomatopoeia boro boro (ぼろぼろ), which describes that something is damaged.

Since people do not want to show their shabby clothes, boro can also mean "fault" or "mistake."

In addition, deru (出る) means "to come out."

That is to say, boro ga deru means that "a fault comes out."
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【No. 1419】Speeding

Nov 6, 2018 15:13
Speeding

Yesterday, a man who was driving a GT-R in Osaka was arrested for speeding.

Surprisingly, the speed of his car was about 280 km/h.

Since the speed limit at the road was 60 km/h, he exceeded the speed limit by about 220 km/h.

This is the highest speed among those who arrested for speeding in Japan, and the amount of speed that exceeded the speed limit may be the world record.

Incidentally, the world record of the speeding offense is owned by Kazuhiko Nagata (known as "Smoky Nagata") -- he drove a GT-R at a British expressway at a speed of 317 km/h.
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【No. 1418】Pochi (ポチ)

Nov 5, 2018 17:34
Pochi

Dogs are the animal with the oldest history as pets, and many dogs are bred all over the world including Japan.

The most common name for dogs in Japan is pochi (ポチ).

There are a variety of etymology about the name -- they say that it comes from the French "petit" (meaning "small"), the English "spotty," "Pooch," the Czech "Pojd'" (meaning "come"), or the Japanese koreppocchi (これっぽっち - meaning "something small").

The most common synonym of dogs in Japan is wan-chan (ワンちゃん), which was made by combining the dog's bark wan (ワン) and the suffix chan (ちゃん), but pochi is also common as a synonym of dogs.
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【No. 1417】Yoru Gohan (夜ごはん - Dinner)

Nov 4, 2018 11:43
Yoru Gohan

"Breakfast" is referred to as asa gohan (朝ごはん - literally "morning meal") in Japanese.

"Lunch" is referred to as hiru gohan (昼ごはん - literally "noon meal") in Japanese.

"Dinner" is referred to as ban gohan (晩ごはん - literally "evening meal") or yū gohan (夕ごはん - literally "evening meal").

However, recently people who call "dinner" yoru gohan (夜ごはん - literally "night meal") have increased.

It is thought that this term comes from the fact that the antonym of asa (朝 - morning) is yoru (夜 - night).

Originally, yoru gohan is not correct Japanese, but it is becoming common.
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【No. 1416】Sazukari Kon (授かり婚 - Shotgun Wedding)

Nov 3, 2018 23:32
Sazukari Kon

Yesterday, I introduced you to the Japanese term dekichatta kekkon (できちゃった結婚), which means "shotgun wedding."

However, since the expression '...chatta' (～ちゃった) contains a nuance of "unexpected" or "unintended," dekichatta kekkon does not have a good image.

Because of this, these days people have come to use sazukari kon (授かり婚) instead.

Sazukari (授かり) means "be given/gifted," and kon (婚) is an abbreviation for kekkon (結婚 - "marriage").

That is to say, sazukari kon implies that the marriage is led by a given baby.
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【No. 1415】Dekichatta Kekkon (できちゃった結婚 - Shotgun Wedding)

Nov 2, 2018 23:30
Dekichatta Kekkon

Today, I would like to introduce you to the Japanese slang term dekichatta kekkon (できちゃった結婚).

Dekichatta (できちゃった) is a slang term of dekita (できた), meaning "something was made/created," and kekkon (結婚) means "marriage."

This term does not describe clearly what was made, but here it means "baby."

That is to say, dekichatta kekkon means a marriage due to an unintended pregnancy.

This term is often abbreviated as dekichatta kon (できちゃった婚) or dekikon (でき婚) for short.
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【No. 1414】Me ga Nai (目がない - Having a Weakness)

Nov 1, 2018 17:40
Me ga Nai

When you want to describe that someone is fond of something heavily and crazily, you can use the Japanese idiom me ga nai (目がない).

Me (目) means "eye" and nai (ない) means "do not have" or "nothing," so the literal meaning of this idiom is "one does not have eyes."

If you do not have your eyes, the ability to see and judge things will down.

That is to say, me ga nai implies that someone is too fond of something to see/judge anything.

Note that when this is used as miru me ga nai (見る目がない) by adding miru (見る - literally "seeing"), it literally means that someone has no eyes to judge/is blind to things.
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【No. 1413】Namida wo Nomu (涙を呑む - Swallowing Tears)

Oct 31, 2018 22:40
Namida wo Nomu

A few days ago, I took an action called namida wo nomu (涙を呑む) in Japanese.

Namida wo nomu is an idiom that means to hold back one's tears when the one is about to cry due to regret, chagrin, or sorrow.

Namida (涙) means "tear," and nomu (呑む) means "to drink" or "to swallow," so the literal meaning of this idiom is "to drink/swallow tears."

That is to say, this idiom implies that you hold back your tears by swallowing them.

I heard that the literal translation, "to swallow tears" and "to swallow/back down tears" can be used in the same meaning to this.
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【No. 1412】Honenuki (骨抜き - Pulling Teeth)

Oct 30, 2018 17:19
Honenuki

I have seen a person who has gone into a state called honenuki (骨抜き).

Hone (骨) means "bone," nuki (抜き) means "to pull out," and the combination has three major meanings.

One is to pull out/remove fish or chicken bones (or a tool for doing it) as this term itself means.

In addition, since bones are very important for almost all living beings, it means to remove an important/key part from a plan or something.

Furthermore, if you use this term to a person, it means that he/she loses their belief or backbone due to sexual factors and is madly in love with someone.
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【No. 1411】Butsubutsu Gawa (ぶつぶつ川)

Oct 29, 2018 16:18
Butsubutsu Gawa

Japan has a law called Kasen-hou (河川法 - literally "River Raw"), which designates important rivers in our lives.

In other words, the designated rivers are official rivers in Japan.

According to this law, there are 35,383 official rivers in Japan.

Also, the shortest river among them is Butsubutsu Gawa (ぶつぶつ川 - literally "Butsubutsu River") in Wakayama, and its total length is 13.5 m.

I heard that butsubutsu (ぶつぶつ) comes from the onomatopoeia futsufutsu (沸々), which means that something gushes.

Incidentally, the longest river in Japan is Shinano Gawa (信濃川 - literally "Shinano River"), and its length is 357 km.
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【No. 1410】Mimi ni Tako ga Dekiru (耳にたこができる - Having a Sore Ear)

Oct 28, 2018 23:58
Mimi ni Tako ga Dekiru

Have you ever been disgusted by a person who talks the same story repeatedly?

You can describe such a situation by using the Japanese idiom, mimi ni tako ga dekiru (耳にたこができる).

Mimi (耳) means "ear," tako (たこ) means "callus," and dekiru (できる) means "to be generated," so the literal meaning of this idiom is "a callus is generated on one's ear."

A callus is a hardened part on one's skin by pressure or friction, and it is usually generated on fingers, feet, etc.

That is to say, mimi ni tako ga dekiru implies that one's ear is under strain as much as a callus is generated on one's ear.
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【No. 1409】Narau yori Nareyo (習うより慣れよ - Practice Makes Perfect)

Oct 27, 2018 20:31
Narau yori Narero

In my university, education based on practice has been performed.

It is also important to learn from people and books, but if you want to acquire practical skills efficiently, you should gain practical experience.

There is a proverb that says this fact, narau yori nareyo (習うより慣れよ).

Narau (習う) means "to learn" or "to study," nareru (慣れる) means "to get used to something," so the literal meaning of this proverb is "It is better to get used to it than learn it."

The similar fact can be described in English as "Practice makes perfect."
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【No. 1408】Uni (ウニ - Sea Urchin)

Oct 26, 2018 23:44
Uni

Yesterday, I wrote about the fish harisenbon (ハリセンボン - porcupinefish/blowfish).

Today, I would like to talk about uni (ウニ), which has many spines as well as porcupinefish.

Uni is known as "sea urchin" in English, and it can be written as 海胆 or 海栗 in kanji.

海 means "sea," 胆 means "organ," and 栗 means "chestnut."

This is because the shucked sea urchin looks like "organ" and the outer shape of sea urchin looks like "chestnut."

Incidentally, according to the survey of an aquarium, the number of spines of a purple sea urchin was 2850.
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【No. 1407】Harisenbon (ハリセンボン - Porcupinefish)

Oct 25, 2018 14:30
Harisenbon

"Porcupinefish" is referred to as harisenbon (ハリセンボン) in Japanese.

I think that it is easy for most Japanese people to imagine the figure of this fish,

Because hari (ハリ) means "spine" or "needle," senbon (センボン) means "one thousand" or "many," and harisenbon have a lot of spines/needles on their bodies.

Some Japanese people might think that they have around one thousand spines, but the actual number of spines is around 350.

Incidentally, the English name "porcupinefish" is derived from "porcupine," which also have a lot of needles on their bodies.

In addition, "porcupine" comes from the old French "porc-épic," the literal meaning of which is "spiny pig."
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【No. 1406】Yaboyou (野暮用 - Trivial Errand)

Oct 24, 2018 17:12
Yaboyou

Today I had some yaboyou (野暮用).

Yaboyou means a minor business to do or a trivial errand that you do not need to say.

In most cases, people use this word in the latter meaning.

Yabo (野暮) means that someone is rude or something is tasteless, and you (用) means "errand."

That is to say, yaboyou is a word that means a minor errand on business or a personal errand that is tasteless.

Incidentally, this word is often used when you do not want to talk about what you did/do in detail.
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【No. 1405】Real 'Tanuki Neiri'

Oct 23, 2018 15:33
Real 'Tanuki Neiri'

Previously, I introduced you to the term tanuki neiri (狸寝入り - literally "raccoon dog sleep"), which means "to pretend to fall asleep."

This word comes from the fact that raccoon dogs faint for a while when they are surprised, then they run away -- this behavior looks as if they pretended to fall asleep.

You might think that raccoon dogs don't do actual tanuki neiri because they really faint.

However, according to the recent study, it has been revealed that raccoon dogs' brains are awake while they are fainting.

That is to say, raccoon dogs do the real tanuki neiri instinctively.
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【No. 1404】Kindai University (近畿大学)

Oct 22, 2018 13:52
Kindai University

There is a famous private university called Kinki Daigaku (近畿大学 - literally "Kinki University") in Osaka, Japan.

Kinki (近畿) means the Kansai region (the area of western Japan), but its pronunciation sounds like "kinky," so the name "Kinki University" became a diplomatic problem.

Therefore, it had started considering to change the name to another one around 10 years ago, and it has changed to "Kindai University" since 2016.

Kin (近) and dai (大) are short for Kinki (近畿) and daigaku (大学), respectively -- in fact, this university is known familiarly as Kindai (近大).

Since both dai and "university" means "university," the literal meaning of Kindai University is "Kinki University University," but it can't be helped.
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【No. 1403】Okkū (億劫 - Bothersome)

Oct 21, 2018 22:45
Okkū

If you want to describe a feeling that you are not willing to do something because of bothersome, you can use the Japanese term okkū (億劫).

Originally, okkū was a Buddhist term, which represented a length of time that was too long to measure.

Oku (億) means "a hundred million," and kū/kou (劫) means a time taken to completely disperse a rocky mountain with a side length of about 2000 kilometers by stroking it with a cloth once in 100 years.

Since such an act to take a lot of time is troublesome and bothersome, okkū has come to have the meaning of "bothersome."