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【No. 1302】Gyūjiru (牛耳る - Dominating)

Jul 12, 2018 20:34
Gyūjiru

When someone controls an organization or a community as he/her want, we refer to the action as gyūjiru (牛耳る).

Gyū (牛) means cow or bull, ji (耳) means ear, and ru (る) is the suffix which can verbalize a noun.

In the past in China, when lords joined in an alliance, the leader took/cut cow's ear, and the lords licked the blood to swear loyalty.

Because of this, to be a leader of an alliance came to be called "gyūji wo toru" (牛耳を執る - taking a cor's ear), and it later also came to mean to control/dominate an organization or a community.

These days, it is usually used as gyūjiru for short.
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【No. 1301】Gū no Ne mo Denai (ぐうの音も出ない)

Jul 11, 2018 21:31
Have you ever gotten into a situation where you cannot counter someone's argument at all?

Such a situation is called "gū no ne mo denai" (ぐうの音も出ない) in Japanese.

Gū (ぐう) is an onomatopoeia that refers to your choking voice, ne (音) means sound, and denai (出ない) means 'not come out.'

That is to say, "gū no ne mo denai" implies that you are getting into a severe situation where you cannot make even your choking voice.

Incidentally, note that "gū no ne" is only used in the expression "gū no ne mo denai."
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【No. 1300】Shōdō-gai (衝動買い - Impulse Buying)

Jul 10, 2018 16:29
Today I ordered a BlackBerry KEY2 at an overseas online shopping site.

These days, I often perform an action called shōdō-gai (衝動買い).

Since shōdō (衝動) means impulse and gai (買い) means to buy, the literal meaning of shōdō-gai is "to buy something on impulse."

As these words suggest, this term means to buy something on impulse without thinking deeply whether or not it is truly necessary.

Fatigue might dull my thought.

I need to cut corners to save money for a while.

However, today Microsoft announced the attractive product, Surface Go...
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【No. 1299】Gata ga Kuru (ガタがくる - Showing One's Age)

Jul 9, 2018 18:17
Gata ga Kuru

As I get older, it became difficult to stay up all night.

If your body condition gets worse due to the age, it is expressed as "gata ga kuru" (ガタがくる) in Japanese.

Gata (ガタ) comes from the Buddhist term, gatapishi/gatahisi (我他彼此).

Ga (我) means oneself, ta (他) means other, pi/hi (彼) means that, shi (此) means this, and the combination means that people/things conflict each other and trouble continues.

Also, kuru (来る) means come, so "gata ga kuru" (ガタがくる - continuing trouble comes) means that a condition of people or things gets worse with age.

【No. 1298】Muda (無駄 - Waste)

Jul 8, 2018 20:54
Muda

I worked more than three days in a row, without returning home.

And today, when I came back to my apartment, I noticed that my room was very cool and comfortable.

Yes, the air conditioner was on for three days...

I was full of grief.

What you do not need or useless things like this situation is referred to as muda (無駄) in Japanese.

【Example】
・Denkidai wo muda ni shita (電気代を無駄にした - I wasted the electricity expense).

I'm sorry today's post is almost a diary.
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【No. 1297】Baby Talk

Jul 7, 2018 18:30
The Japanese language has various phrases in baby talk.

Most of them were made by imitating sounds of something or using only sounds that are easy to pronounce even for infants.

Below are some example phrases in baby talk; please try to guess what they mean.

・Manma (マンマ)
・Jīji (ジージ)
・Bāba (バーバ)
・Shīshi (シーシー)
・An-yo (あんよ)

【Answer】
・Manma ・・・ 'Meal.'
・Jīji ・・・ 'Grandfather.'
・Bāba ・・・ 'Grandmother.'
・Shīshi ・・・ Urination or 'pee.'
・An-yo ・・・ Foot or 'walking.'
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【No. 1296】Baby Talk to Represent Animals

Jul 6, 2018 19:48
In a conversation with babies in Japan, we can represent animals by their barks or cries.

Yesterday, I told you that "wan wan" (ワンワン) and "nyan nyan" (ニャンニャン) represent dog and cat, respectively.

In addition to that, there are several common expressions as the following:

Mō mō (モーモー) ・・・ cow or 'bull.'

Poppo (ポッポ) ・・・ 'pigeon.'

Kokko (コッコ) ・・・'chicken.'

Bū bū (ブーブー) ・・・ 'pig.'

However, note that "bū bū" also means the sound of a car and the car itself.

I will talk about other baby talks tomorrow.
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【No. 1295】Wan Wan and Nyan Nyan (ワンワンとニャンニャン- Doggie and Kitty)

Jul 5, 2018 19:48
I would like to write about cats and dogs continuing from yesterday.

In Japan, a dog bark is represented as "wan wan" (ワンワン), and a cat's cry is represented as "nyan nyan" (ニャンニャン).

These terms are used not only as cries but also as baby words that refer the animal itself.

That is to say, "wan wan" and "nyan nyan" can mean dog and cat, respectively.

I think that these words correspond to doggie, kitty, or meow in English.

However, please note that somehow nyan nyan sometimes mean sexual activity.
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【No. 1294】Wanko and Nyanko (「わんこ」と「にゃんこ」 - Puppies and Kittens)

Jul 4, 2018 18:35
In my post yesterday, I told you that we sometimes call a puppy or a cute dog wanchan (わんちゃん).

This word was made by adding the suffix chan (ちゃん), which is used when calling something with familiarity, to a dog's bark wan (わん).

In addition to chan, you can choose another suffix ko (こ), which expresses familiarity -- it becomes wanko (わんこ).

Furthermore, if you want to refer to a kitten or a cute cat, you can say nyanko (にゃんこ); here, the nyan (にゃん) is a cry of a cat.

However, for some reason, people rarely say nyanchan (にゃんちゃん).
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【No. 1293】Wanchan (ワンチャン - Possibility)

Jul 3, 2018 20:06
I wrote that I couldn't make a deadline for submission of manuscripts yesterday.

However, there seems to be wanchan (ワンチャン).

Wanchan comes from the English "one chance," and it means "there is a chance/possibility."

Originally, wanchan was used as a term of mah-jong, but these days young people often use it in various situations.

Incidentally, when we say wanchan as the above meaning, we don't stress it on any syllable.

If you accent the first syllable or write it as ワンちゃん (here, chan is written with Hiragana), it means a puppy or a cute dog.

【No. 1292】Shimekiri ni Owareru (締め切りに追われる - Being under a Deadline)

Jul 2, 2018 17:56
Since the deadline for a manuscript of an academic conference was 9 o'clock this morning, I worked through the night.
(Unfortunately, I couldn't make the deadline, and missed an opportunity to visit Italy.)

Doing work desperately like this is often expressed as "shimekiri ni owareru" (締め切りに追われる) in Japanese.

Shimekiri (締め切り) means deadline and owareru (追われる) means being chased, so the literal meaning of this phrase is "being chased by a deadline."

As you can guess, we use the verb owareru (追われる - being chased) to imply that the deadline is approaching.

This phrase can be translated into English as "being under a deadline" or "facing the pressure of a deadline."
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【No. 1291】Hikagemono (日陰者 - An Inconspicuous Person)

Jul 1, 2018 18:50
I introduced you to the words hoshikage (星影 - starlight) and tsukikage (月影 - moonlight) yesterday.

You can also say hikage (日影) to mean sunlight, however, the kanji of hikage is usually 日陰.

Also, if you write hikage as 日陰, it means a place where the sun does not get into, that is, a 'shade.'

Furthermore, the composite term hikagemono (日陰者), which is made by adding mono (者 - person) to hikage (日陰 - shadow), it can mean an inconspicuous person or a person who can't be successful in the world.
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【No. 1290】Hoshikage (星影)

Jun 30, 2018 20:59
What comes to your mind when you hear hoshikage (星影)?

Hoshi (星) means star and kage (影) means 'shadow.'

Because of this, you (even Japanese people) might think that hoshikage is "a shadow created by the light of a star."

However, the actual meaning of hoshikage is just 'starlight.'

Originally, the word kage meant 'light.'

Later, it came to mean also "a black shape created by the light and an object," and now it is mainly used as the latter meaning.

Incidentally, if you want to say moonlight in Japanese, you can say tsukikage (月影 - here, tsuki means 'moon') in the same manner as the case of 'hoshikage.'
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【No. 1289】Lack of Sleep

Jun 29, 2018 14:36
These days I have trouble getting to sleep.

I think the reason is that I fiddle with my computer and smartphone before going to bed or in bed.

We sleep and wake up on a 24-hour cycle -- this is thanks to melatonin, which is known as a kind of hormones.

During the night, the amount of melatonin secretion increases as it grows dark, and it makes you sleepy.

In the morning, the melatonin secretion is suppressed when exposing to the strong light of the sun, and it causes you to awaken.

Unfortunately, blue lights generated from computers or smartphones suppress the melatonin secretion just like when you are exposed to the sunlight.

If you want to get a good quality sleep, you should not fiddle with computers nor smartphones in an hour before getting to bed.
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【No. 1288】Me and the Foreign Language

Jun 28, 2018 17:13
Today I would like to write my post under the theme of 'me and the foreign language.'

The reason that I study English is closely related to my purpose in life.

I am currently researching diagnostic and measurement technology at my university, and I would like to become a researcher who is active on the front lines of that field.

Toward this goal, two abilities are essential: one is the ability to read scientific papers written in English, and the other is the ability to disseminate study results to the world in English.

Because of this, I learn and write English on Lang-8 every day.

However, these days I have not practiced listening and speaking; undoubtedly, I need more practices towards an international conference that is held after a few months.
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【No. 1287】Anata (あなた - You/Sweetheart)

Jun 27, 2018 21:04
I wrote about Japanese two person pronouns yesterday.

In that post, I said that you should not use two person pronouns blindly, such as anata (あなた) or kimi (君), in daily conversation in Japan.

However, anata (あなた) could be used in a specific case.

That is when a wife refers to her husband.

Originally, anata was a word to refer to something in the distance.

In the Edo period, since wives and husbands in samurai families often acted independently, wives seemed to call their husbands anata in the sense of "a person who is far away."

Someday, I would like someone to tell me "Okaerinasai, anata" (おかえりなさい、あなた - Welcome home, sweetheart), haha.
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【No. 1286】Second Person Pronouns

Jun 26, 2018 15:25
It may be very difficult for Japanese learners to treat Japanese second person pronouns.

Second person pronouns are pronouns used when writers/speakers address someone directly; the most common one in English is 'you.'

The Japanese language has anata (あなた) and kimi (君) as typical translations of you, but you should not use them blindly.

In Japan, second person pronouns are basically used only to refer to your friends or lower ranking people.

If you want to refer to someone safely, you can choose several ways: adding san (さん) to one's last name, using one's position name like sensei (先生 - teacher) or buchō (部長 - manager), or not using any second person terms.
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【No. 1285】Mokuhyō (目標)Mokuhyō (目的) Part 2

Jun 25, 2018 16:20
Mokuhyō and Mokuteki Part 2

Today I would like to introduce you to the difference between mokuhyō (目標) and mokuteki (目的); even Japanese people often confuse them.

As the word teki (的 - target) indicates, mokuteki is your final goal, and it should be the essential answer to the reason you act.

On the other hand, as the word hyō (標 - mark) indicates, mokuhyō are specific goals/aims/objectives to achieve your final goal.

In summary, mokuteki is your abstract final goal, whereas mokuhyō are specific goals for achievement in the final goal.

For example, my mokuteki in life is to become a researcher who is active in the front lines in the world, and my mokuhyō to achieve this mokuteki are the followings: writing English on Lang-8 every day, reading a paper every week, and submitting a paper to a scientific journal every year.
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【No. 1284】Mokuhyō (目標)Mokuhyō (目的) Part 1

Jun 24, 2018 10:42
Mokuhyō and Mokuteki Part 1

I introduced you to the Japanese word meyasu (目安) yesterday.

Meyasu can mean aim, target, and goal, but this word is rather used to mean standard or 'criterion.'

If you want to mean aim, target, goal or objective explicitly, you can use mokuhyō (目標) or mokuteki (目的).

Here, moku (目) means eye, hyō (標) means mark, and teki (的) means target -- both mokuhyō and mokuteki can be translated as the above-mentioned English words.

However, the usage of these words is different.

I will explain that tomorrow.
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【No. 1283】Meyasu (目安 - Rough Standard)

Jun 23, 2018 21:32
I write short English texts every day on Lang-8 while defining 100 words as meyasu (目安).

Meyasu means goals, rough standards, or rough indications.

This word is a noun form of the adjective meyasushi (目安し), which was used in the Heian period.

Me (目) means eye and yasushi (安し) means to feel relieved, so the combination means "to feel relieved to see something" or "something is easy to see."

In the Kamakura period, what you can understand if you see, such as a scale, came to be called meyasu, and it has come to mean its current meanings.