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I am confused as I learned from the other thread in this forum, where 舐める means to lick but there's also slang version of it, which means to look down?

Regarding that I was wondering which could be the meaning for the lyrics of 『LION』, it goes by 「恥ずかしい物語 舐め合っても ライオンは強い」 For those who are experts, getting the real context of the song might help, I think its available in Spotify, but I am novice in this language and very confused

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The first part of the lyrics of this song is very figurative, and it's difficult to interpret even to native speakers. Still, I'm certain that this 舐める does NOT mean "to look down".

舐め合う literally means "to lick each other", but this compound verb is almost always used as part of the idiom 傷を舐め合う, which literally means "to lick each other's wounds" but actually refers to two unhappy people trying to comfort each other to feel a little better. I think most people would be reminded of 傷を舐め合う just by hearing 舐め合う.

In this song, the object of 舐め合う is not 傷 but 恥ずかしい物語, but I think the basic meaning remains the same; there are two people ("lions") trying to comfort each other regarding their regrettable past. Note that the first three lines of the song is about the unpredictability of one's life (cf. butterfly effect).

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  • It made sense now that you mentioned 傷を舐め合う
    – user45181
    Jun 5, 2021 at 19:16

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