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【No. 1166】Ojan (おじゃん - Falling Through)

Feb 26, 2018 11:12
When a plan or a thing goes up in smoke, we refers to it as おじゃん (ojan) or おじゃんになる (ojan ni naru - becoming ojan) in Japanese.

お (o) is a polite suffix, and it's thought that じゃん (jan) comes from an onomatopoeia.

In the Edo period in Japan, when a fire broke out, people rang 半鐘 (hansho - fire bell) to let surrounding people know the fire.

Also, when all the fire was extinguished, people rang the hansho twice at a short interval.

This sound was represented as じゃんじゃん (jan jan), and it changed to the term "ojan."

At that time, since wooden houses were built in a row, we had to broke houses around a burning house to prevent the fire from spreading.

I think that the term "ojan" is exactly suitable for the scene.
おじゃん

計画や物事が途中で駄目になることを、日本語で「おじゃん」や「おじゃんになる」と言います。

「お」は丁寧の接頭語、そして「じゃん」は擬音から来た言葉だと考えられています。

日本では江戸時代、火事が発生すると、半鐘を鳴らして周囲に知らせました。

そして無事に鎮火した際には、半鐘を短く2回鳴らしていたそうです。

このときの半鐘を短く鳴らす音を「じゃんじゃん」と表現し、そこから「おじゃん」という言葉ができたというわけです。

かつては木造の家が連なっていたので、類焼を防ぐために、燃えている周囲の家まで叩き壊していたそうです。

その光景は、まさに「おじゃん」という言葉が当てはまります。

Corrections (1)

No. 1 tony
  • When a plan or a thing goes up in smoke, we refers to it as おじゃん (ojan) or おじゃんになる (ojan ni naru - becoming ojan) in Japanese.
  • When a plan or a thing goes up in smoke, we refers to it as おじゃん (ojan) or おじゃんになる (ojan ni naru - becoming ojan) in Japanese.

    I/you/we/they refer
    he/she/it refers

  • お (o) is a polite suffix, and it's thought that じゃん (jan) comes from an onomatopoeia.
  • お (o) is a polite prefix, and it's thought that じゃん (jan) comes from an onomatopoeia.

    pre- : before (前)
    prefix : something that is attached to the beginning of a word
    suffix : something that is attached to the end of a word

  • In the Edo period in Japan, when a fire broke out, people rang 半鐘 (hansho - fire bell) to let surrounding people know the fire.
  • In the Edo period in Japan, when a fire broke out, people rang 半鐘 (hansho - fire bell) to let surrounding people know about the fire.
  • Also, when all the fire was extinguished, people rang the hansho twice at a short interval.
  • Also, when all the fire was extinguished, people rang the hansho twice at a short interval. [Alternative: ... twice with a short interval between.]
  • This sound was represented as じゃんじゃん (jan jan), and it changed to the term "ojan."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • At that time, since wooden houses were built in a row, we had to broke houses around a burning house to prevent the fire from spreading.
  • At that time, since wooden houses were built in a row, we had to break houses around a burning house to prevent the fire from spreading.
Toru
Thank you so much for correcting my post!
I'm sorry for my elementary mistakes.
tony
いいえ、どういたしまして。

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