Meaning of 嗜み（たしなみ）

Question

I've run into the expression 嗜み quite often lately, mostly in the form of "XXXの嗜み", like 大人の嗜み or メイドの嗜み

Googling around, I think I understand that it means something along the lines of "what you should know as XXX", but I'm not quite sure I get all the nuances of the word.

Could someone explain to me the scope of 嗜み and in what situation I might use the word?

Answer 1

嗜み means two different things:

1. hobby; enjoyment as an amateur
2. what you should know to be a refined X; basic knowledge/experience for X

So 大人の嗜み can refer to either:

• hobbies only adults can enjoy (e.g., wine and cigarette. See this article for example)
• what you should know/have as a mature adult (See this article for example)

メイドの嗜み almost certainly refers to "what you should be able to do as a maid" because "hobby (only) for maids" doesn't make much sense to me.

The verb version, 嗜む, also means two things, "to casually enjoy something as a hobby" and "to have the basic knowledge/experience on something".

嗜む/嗜み is an elegant word that is typically used with uncommon "upper-class" activities like 乗馬, テニス, チェス, ピアノ and 生け花. Saying アニメを嗜む is not wrong but may sound a little funny.