38
「アリ」 here means "acceptable", "no problem", "possible", etc.
It is a vastly common colloquial usage, but I would not call it slangy.
「そんなのアリかよ？」
therefore means:
"Is that (even) acceptable?"
Needless to say, the word comes from 「有{あ}り」 and it is pronounced differently from 「アリ」 ("an ant").
「アリ」 in question is 「アリ{HL}」.
「アリ」 ("an ant") is 「アリ{LH}」.
...
18
今日という日 (literally "the day called today") is just an emphatic version of "today", or "this very day". This expression is commonly used in formal greetings and poems. (I tried jisho.org but got nothing related to "everyday". How did you come up with "everyday"?)
15
What is the etymology of the phrase 隴を得て蜀を望む?
We can reorder the characters to get 得隴望蜀, which is a Chinese-language yojijukugo. This phrase may reference a few unrelated historical events.
The earliest such event is about Emperor Guangwu of Han reunifying the Gansu region into Han territory then turning his sights on Sichuan (see Emperor Guangwu of Han's ...
14
I don't think "read between the lines" accurately conveys the intended meaning of 空気{くうき}を読{よ}む. Reading between the lines is usually if you are given a specific phrase, written or spoken, and you are expected to understand an implied, and intended, meaning that is not directly stated. Whereas reading the air, as far as I know, is about understanding a ...
13
「あっという間{ま}」 is the phrase I would suggest.
"Two years will be over in the blink of an eye." would be:
「2年{ねん}なんて、あっという間だよ。」
「2年なんて、あっという間に終{お}わるよ。」
Needless to say, 「あっという間」 literally means "while you utter 「あ」". It is a very common and useful phrase for "in the blink of an eye".
13
Yes.
郷【ごう】に入【い】っては郷【ごう】に従【したが】え
which literally means "When you enter a village, obey (the custom of) the village".
12
I am starting with the grammar because the 「笑うだよね」 part might not make sense to some.
[目]{め}くそ[鼻]{はな}くそを[笑]{わら}うだよね。
=
『目くそ鼻くそを笑う』だよね。
=
『目くそ鼻くそを笑う』, as they say, eh?
Pretend to see a 「が」 after 「目くそ」.
It is quoting the saying 「目くそ鼻くそを笑う」, which literally means "Eye discharge laughs at booger." The saying means that Person A is criticizing ...
11
としたことが and ともあろうものが are used to express the surprise of the speaker toward the (bad) behaviour of someone.
With 私, it expresses something around the line of "Who could have thought I/someone like me/someone of my standing/someone of my position (would do such a thing)"
Here are some examples from the 和英大辞典：
君としたことが, とんだへまをしでかしてくれたものだ.
You, of all ...
10
According to the ja.wikipedia page on GKBR, it can be ゴキブリ as well as:
ｶﾞｸｶﾞｸﾌﾞﾙﾌﾞﾙ - 恐怖で震えるさまを表す擬態語。
So it'd be "GaKu BuRu," onomatopoeia that represents fearful trembling.
It's some 2ch slang, of course.
Here also is an entry on the nicovideo dictionary
10
The 面白 comes from 面白い which as you probably know means "fun, interesting". The 半分 part means "half".
The expression ”面白半分に” means literally to do something "half fun", "half serious" (as you hinted at). See the definition in the dictionary here. The "に" acts to make the phrase an adverb which is acting on a verb such as 見る or 言う in your examples.
The ...
9
嫌な汗 is commonly used and refers to sweat that comes out in a "bad situation", especially in anticipation of a "bad situation". In my personal opinion it emphasizes how the person is still maintaining his/her composure (rather than flailing around, screaming, running away etc.) despite being very worried or distressed inside.
For example, if you are a ...
9
When talking about children/grandchildren and not romantic relationships, a common idiom is:
目に入れても痛くない{いたくない}
(Literal: It wouldn't hurt if I put them in my eye)
It's similar to saying that they are the apple of your eye, and you could do anything for them.
9
There are so many ways to say "I am confused." that you might not get a very good answer unless you explain what situation/context you have in mind.
「頭が混乱している。」 is "good" in the sense that it could not really mean anything other than "I am confused." It could sound a little stiff if said in a casual situation as 「混乱」 is a bit of a big word for a light kind ...
9
You can find many idioms that denote something is impossible on online glossaries, including:
石に花咲く (a flower blooms on a stone)
太陽が西から昇る (the sun rising from the west)
網の目に風とまる (wind being trapped by a net)
畑に蛤 (finding clams in a vegetable field)
山の芋鰻になる (potatoes becoming eels)
But these are all fairly rare. I think these are used like (impossible event)...
9
Basically it means "easy hunt/game/prey". I think "something surprising but convenient" is slightly wrong. So it can't be used like your example. Second example is correct, the phrase exists for.
We love 蕎麦(Japanese noodle), and duck(鴨) meat one is really popular since Edo period. We usually put 葱(Green leek?) in 蕎麦, so if we found a 鴨 carrying 葱 and could ...
8
I believe [無駄足]{むだあし} is derived from [無駄足]{むだあし}を[運]{はこ}ぶ ("move one's feet in vain"), which is one of a series of counterintuitive idioms Japanese vocabulary has.
[小腹]{こばら}が[減]{へ}る "little stomach get empty"
actually describing "be a little hungry" (cf. [腹]{はら}が[減]{へ}る "be hungry")
[大]{おお}ぼらを[吹]{ふ}く "blow on a big conch"
actually, "blow on a conch loudly" ...
8
There is a meaning of 「それまで」 that you appear to be unfamiliar with, judging from your paraphrase.
「それまで」, in this context, means "(that is) the end of the story" and for this meaning, it is very often paired with hypothetical forms such as 「～～と言われたら/言われれば」,「～～であれば/だったら」, 「～～なら」, etc.
https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%85%B6%E3%82%8C%E8%BF%84-315527#E5.A4.A7.E8....
8
If what you're talking about is this:
to do something that spoils someone's plans
We have idioms 水【みず】を差【さ】す and 腰【こし】を折【お】る in Japanese.
水を差して [apology words] …
水を差すようで [apology words] …
水を差すようなことを言って [apology words] …
（話の）腰を折って [apology words] …
(... and so forth ...)
while in [apology words] you can fill (in the order from casual to formal):
悪いんだけど、
...
8
I personally think 時すでに遅し is fine (時すでに遅し is an idiomatic phrase which is not based on plain modern Japanese grammar), but if you want "more idiomatic" ones, you may use the following expressions:
覆水盆に返らず
(lit.) Spilled water won't go back to a bowl.
後悔先に立たず
(lit.) Regret never precedes.
落花枝に返らず、破鏡再び照らさず (rare)
(lit.) A fallen blossom won't go back to a ...
8
見るも is better remembered as a fixed adverbial idiom "patently", "manifestly" but usually qualifies what is shocking at first glance.
This phrase cooccurs with following adjectives across the BCCWJ:
word
count
無残/無惨/無慙/無ざん/むざん
32
哀れ/あわれ
7
恐ろしい/おそろしい
5
おぞましい
4
痛々しい
3
あさましい
1
嫌
1
悲しい
1
きれい
1
燦爛
1
獰猛
1
悲惨
1
まばゆい
1
まぶしい
1
みじめ
1
...
7
This is a variation on an idiom, あさっての方を向く, which means you're focusing on the wrong thing or failing to notice what you should. The key to the idiom is あさって. Literally, it comes from the idea that you're focusing on the day after tomorrow when you should be paying attention to tomorrow!
The idiom, though, is now more general than that, and it can be ...
7
Just to make sure you don't miss this point:
The lady is trying to blackmail the principal into firing the teacher by threatening to spill the beans to the media, thereby damaging the reputation of the school.
マスコミにバラしてもいいんですよ
"I'll go to the media if I have to" or something like that. As others have explained, the question mark doesn't really turn this ...
7
All in all it takes 15 minutes to get there
全部で15分かかる。
(more examples of this structure)
All in all this movie was quite fun
この映画は全体的におもしろかった。
(more examples, more examples, more)
This dictionary might help as well. It includes some useful phrases like 全体として見れば.
7
だがたまには下も見るもんだぜ
だがたまには下も見るものだぜ
In this context ～もんだ is a slightly more informal way of saying ～ものだ, which is similar to ～べきだ as covered in this post. So the speaker is trying to say that 'one should...(look down etc.)' For better flow of the translation I would personally translate it as follows:
A: There is always someone above you in this world.
B: I know ...
7
It's just based on the metaphorical idea of something turning meaning that something is functioning normally, as in a machine. In English we have sayings about the gears not turning. You can't really try to draw parallels between idiomatic phrases. For example, in English if you're dizzy then your head is spinning, but in Japanese it's your eyes that spin (...
7
一瞬で, 一瞬にして, etc.
Coincidentally (or not coincidentally), the 瞬 in 一瞬 means blink.
7
「[動]{うご}けば[雷電]{らいでん}の[如]{ごと}く、[発]{はっ}すれば[風雨]{ふうう}の如し。」
You state that this is a quote from Takasugi, but it is not. This is how Takasugi was metaphorically described by others.
This page gives a good translation of the phrase.
"Moving like the lightning, speaking like the storm."
「発する」 means "to utter words" ⇒ "to speak"
7
How about...
Sometimes I feel like most people only think about themselves.
たいていの人は自分のことしか考えてない（んじゃないか）って思うときがある。
If they need your help, they'll contact you.
困ったときだけ連絡してきて、
If they don't need it (if you're not useful to them) they won't contact you at all, like they don't care(it's not their business)
用がないときは、「知ったこっちゃない」って感じで、ぜんぜん連絡してこない。
7
I'm curious which dictionary you used to find that odd kana-ization?
Searching for the kana string おたかくとまる over on Kotobank, a decent online dictionary aggregator sourcing from reputable native-language Japanese dictionaries, gives us several relevant pages. The Nihon Kokugo Dai Jiten entry for the 御高くとまる spelling includes the following sample sentence ...
7
This idiom is understood by virtually all native speakers, but ordinary people rarely use it. They usually see this phrase used by villains in fictional works.
鴨 is a duck, and in Japanese it's also a metaphor for a person who is easily tricked, just like "gull" in English. There is a phrase ～を鴨にする (or ～をカモる for short), which means "to gull (someone)". 葱 is ...
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