Ii Kimi and Ii Zama (「いい気味」と「いい様」)

The Japanese adjective いい (ii) usually means "good" or "nice," but it sometimes implies the reverse and converys irony.

The Japanese term いい迷惑 (ii meiwaku) that I introduced you yesterday is one of the example.

There are other terms that use ironic "ii" -- for example, they're いい気味 (ii kimi) and いい様 (ii zama).

"Kimi" means "feeling" and "zama/sama" means "figure," so the literal meaning of "ii kimi" and "ii zama" are "good feeling" and "good figure," respectively.

However, actually "ii kimi" implies someone's failure or misfortune, and "ii zama" implies someone's stupid/disgraceful figure.

「いい気味」と「いい様」

日本語の「いい」は、基本的に "good" や "nice" を意味しますが、特定の単語の前に付くことで反語的に用いられることがあります。

昨日紹介した「いい迷惑」は、その用例の一つです。

その他に「いい」が反語的に使われる例としては、「いい気味」と「いい様」などがあります。

「気味」は "feeling," 「様」は "figure" を意味するので、「いい気味」と「いい様」の文字通りの意味はそれぞれ "good feeling" や "good figure" となります。

しかし実際には、「いい気味」は「他人の失敗や不幸を喜んでいい気分になること」を、「いい様」は「他人のみっともない姿をあざけること」を意味します。

• The Japanese adjective いい (ii) usually means "good" or "nice," but it sometimes implies the reverse and converys irony.
• The Japanese adjective いい (ii) usually means "good" or "nice," but it sometimes implies the reverse and conveys irony.

• The Japanese term いい迷惑 (ii meiwaku) that I introduced you yesterday is one of the example.
• The Japanese term いい迷惑 (ii meiwaku) that I introduced yesterday is an example (of one of those).

• There are other terms that use ironic "ii" -- for example, they're いい気味 (ii kimi) and いい様 (ii zama).
• There are other terms that use ironic "ii" -- for example, いい気味 (ii kimi) and いい様 (ii zama).

• "Kimi" means "feeling" and "zama/sama" means "figure," so the literal meaning of "ii kimi" and "ii zama" are "good feeling" and "good figure," respectively.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• However, actually "ii kimi" implies someone's failure or misfortune, and "ii zama" implies someone's stupid/disgraceful figure.
• However, "ii kimi" actually implies someone's failure or misfortune, and "ii zama" implies someone's stupid/disgraceful figure.

  I think in general it may be more natural to place the adverb as close as possible to the verb it modifies, so I moved "actually" closer to "implies".

• "Kimi" means "feeling" and "zama/sama" means "figure," so the literal meaning of "ii kimi" and "ii zama" are "good feeling" and "good figure," respectively.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• However, actually "ii kimi" implies someone's failure or misfortune, and "ii zama" implies someone's stupid/disgraceful figure.
• However, actually "ii kimi" really/actually implies someone's failure or misfortune, and "ii zama" implies someone's shameful/disgraceful figure.

Great post, Toru! :D