Skip to content

【No. 1958】Yabuisha no Genkan (藪医者の玄関 - Deception)

Sep 5, 2021 10:00
Yabuisha no Genkan

In yesterday's post, I introduced the term yabuisha (藪医者), which means a "bad doctor."

There is an idiom, yabuisha no genkan (藪医者の玄関), which uses yabuisha.

Since genkan (玄関) means "entrance," the literal meaning of yabuisha no genkan is "bad doctor's entrance."

The worse a doctor is, the more he/she tries to make a splendid entrance to the hospitals to deceive their patients.

For this reason, yabuisha no genkan came to be used as a metaphor for something that looks great but is shabby on the inside.
藪医者の玄関

昨日は、治療や診断が下手な医者を意味する「藪医者」という言葉を紹介しました。

「藪医者」を使った慣用句に、「藪医者の玄関」というものがあります。

「玄関」は "entrance" を意味するので、「藪医者の玄関」の文字どおりの意味は "bad doctor's entrance" となります

下手な医者ほど、玄関だけは立派にして、患者を騙そうとするものです。

そこから、「藪医者の玄関」は、見かけだけ立派で、中身の伴わないもののたとえとして使われます。

Corrections (1)

No. 1 hakuame
  • Yabuisha no Genkan (藪医者の玄関 - Deception)
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Yabuisha no Genkan
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • In yesterday's post, I introduced the term 'yabuisha' (藪医者), which means a "bad doctor."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • There is an idiom, 'yabuisha no genkan' (藪医者の玄関), which uses 'yabuisha'.
  • There is an idiom which uses 'yabuisha' - 'yabuisha no genkan' (藪医者の玄関).
  • Since 'genkan' (玄関) means "entrance," the literal meaning of 'yabuisha no genkan' is "bad doctor's entrance."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • The worse a doctor is, the more he/she tries to make a splendid entrance to the hospitals to deceive their patients.
  • The worse a doctor is, the more he/she tries to make a splendid/dramatic entrance to the hospitals to deceive their patients.
  • For this reason, 'yabuisha no genkan' came to be used as a metaphor for something that looks great but is shabby on the inside.
  • For this reason, 'yabuisha no genkan' came to be used as a metaphor for something that looks great on the outside but is shabby on the inside.

In English, there is a similar idiom - All that glitters is not gold.

Toru
Thank you for correcting my post and letting me know the interesting idiom! (^^)

Comments