7
votes
Accepted
The origin of 首にする
I'm an etymology geek -- I love finding out how and when different words and expressions and meanings arose. I offer this as an addition to @sundowner's fine answer post.
What is the origin of the ...
- 36.8k
6
votes
Accepted
Is '櫓三年に棹八年' a playful saying?
This is funny simply because 櫓三年に棹八年 is an extremely rare proverb known to only a few Japanese speakers. An avid learner may know 桃栗三年柿八年, which is a much more common equivalent of this proverb. ...
- 306k
5
votes
Accepted
Is 「将来が期待される」 idiomatic? Why does it mean "promising future"? Why is the passive form used in the sentence at issue?
期待する itself is more positive than neutral. It's like saying you look forward to having or seeing something rather than just saying you expect to have or see something.
将来 here refers to the future ...
- 19.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Why say 「いるわけ」when わけ isn't an animate object?
This sentence is an answer to the one right before.
（～ことのできるヤツが）いるわけがない。"There cannot be (a guy who can...)"
Therefore the subject of the verb いる in this context is 「不必要な人間を消すことのできるヤツ」, ...
- 1,244
5
votes
What does とおす mean in the sentence 「声を落とせ。既に目は通してある。」？
目を通す is a common idiom you have to remember, but this 通す is a transitive verb that means "to pass (something)" or "to let (something) pass through". It's used like this:
パイプに水を通した。...
- 306k
4
votes
Accepted
Addressing people in the Japanese Christian/Catholic Church
I was a missionary at a Japanese non-denominational Christian church in Osaka. In my experience—mostly limited to my own church, though I was able to visit several other churches, and attend a couple ...
- 43.9k
4
votes
What does とおす mean in the sentence 「声を落とせ。既に目は通してある。」？
目は通して is related to the phrase 目を通す which means "to look over". Changing out は for を can be seen as setting the overall topic and or emphasis / comparison to something else (e.g I looked ...
- 2,042
4
votes
Accepted
readings of north, south, east, west?
とうざいなんぼく is the correct reading of those characters when they are put together in that order.
The second one being Chinese, it is natural to read it in all on’yomi. Besides, 東南 and 西北 are both ...
- 19.5k
4
votes
Accepted
あっちゃいけない - Grammatical origin
あっちゃいけない is a very simple contraction of あってはいけない, yes. 'There must not be'. In a couple of your sentences it's である, so for example 'I shouldn't be the only one who's special', 'Why shouldn't there be ...
- 11.2k
4
votes
Is there any idiomatic way to express doing an activity or behaving "like an old man" or "not in a cool way", particularly in the context of skiing?
Turn is ターン. Period.
As for Dad, おやじ (オヤジ, 親父) is not bad, but you may want to choose おっさん or おじさん instead. おやじ can be used to carry a connotation of "dandy" sometimes, and recently it may ...
- 306k
4
votes
Is 夜だから some kind of idiomatic expression?
The short answer is no. It has nothing to do with an idiom or culture-specific phrase.
(Neither of the two guys seems to think that 夜だから is a valid reason in the first place.)
- 306k
3
votes
Accepted
「売り言葉に買い言葉」について
The literal meaning of 売り言葉に買い言葉 is "Seller's words and buyer's words" or "Seller's language comes with buyer's language". For the function of this に, see why に can mean "and&...
- 306k
3
votes
Accepted
Is there any Japanese saying, proverb or idiom equivalent to the meaning of the biblical parable "The Mote and the Beam"?
Off the top of my head:
「[目糞]{めくそ}[鼻糞]{はなくそ}を笑う」
「人のふり見て[我]{わ}がふり直せ」
「[猿]{さる}の[尻]{しり}笑い」
「五十歩百歩」/「五十歩をもって百歩を笑う」
Similar/related proverbs on the net:
「[蠣]{かき}が[鼻垂]{はなた}れを笑う」
「[腐]{くさ}れ[柿]{がき}が[熟柿]{じゅくし}...
- 65.3k
3
votes
Accepted
What does ひと足ふた足抜け mean here?
Yes, I think your understanding is correct. While ひと足先に and 一歩抜け出す are common expressions, ひと足抜ける is not. Still, it's reasonable to guess it's supposed to mean "他の人より1、2歩先に" or "...
- 306k
3
votes
Addressing people in the Japanese Christian/Catholic Church
Here are the basic rules:
神父【しんぷ】 refers to Catholic priests or "Father". Add 様 when addressing them (神父様).
牧師【ぼくし】 refers to pastors in Protestant churches. Add 様 when addressing them (牧師様)...
- 306k
3
votes
Accepted
Why does 「割引がもらえる」 mean "able to receive the discount"?
Key point
Verbs of potential in English describe a property of an actor: that person is able to [VERB].
Verbs of potential in Japanese describe a property of a thing: that thing is [VERB]-able.
The ...
- 36.8k
2
votes
Accepted
Explain the meaning of “いくら...とはいえ”
Your understanding is correct.
From 大辞泉:
［副］（あとに「ても」「でも」を伴うことが多い）量や程度のはなはだしいさま。どれほど。どんなに。「―捜しても見つからない」「―子供でもわかるだろう」
So No matter how much you are my friend should be a literal enough translation.
...
- 32.6k
2
votes
What does 馬になる mean
This is a catchphrase of this YouTuber. He became famous around 2019 for his videos in which he cooks while imitating the voices of anime characters and using a lot of wordplay (オヤジギャグ) including ...
- 306k
2
votes
readings of north, south, east, west?
In such compounds, I would rather expect that on'yomi would be used, not kun'yomi.
西 has 2 widely used on'yomi readings: さい and せい.
東西南北 happens to be pre-existing Sino-Japanese word, included in ...
- 1,119
2
votes
Is there any Japanese saying, proverb or idiom equivalent to the meaning of the biblical parable "The Mote and the Beam"?
For what is worth, I've found two related expressions at Jisho.org:
人のことを言う means "to find fault with other people rather than oneself" or "(for the pot) to call the kettle black" ...
- 6,541
2
votes
Is "で一発だ an expression?
The sentence structure is rather simple though it does not admit simple translation into English because 一発 wouldn't correspond to a simple English word.
The sentence is
食い物は匂いで一発だ
with なんて adding '...
- 32.6k
2
votes
Is 夜だから some kind of idiomatic expression?
The idea that night makes you sad is kind of a cliche in songs and poems. If you search for 泣きたい夜 and 歌, you will find a lot of songs with lyrics using the expression (or a similar one), including 『...
- 4,568
2
votes
The origin of 首にする
First note that there is another expression (Aの)首を切る, which means the same as (Aを)首にする.
The most relevant expression in English should be head count although I think it is used mostly for hiring. The ...
- 32.6k
2
votes
Is 「将来が期待される」 idiomatic? Why does it mean "promising future"? Why is the passive form used in the sentence at issue?
将来が期待される is an idiomatic expression, as a whole, meaning promising. It can be used in active voice as given in 大辞泉. The passive can be understood as by the public as you think. Or you can think the ...
- 32.6k
1
vote
Accepted
Meaning of 「内容をテキストのみに適用」
適用 never means "paste", and に does not mean "as". ("Paste as text" would have been テキストとして貼り付け, テキストでペースト, etc.)
The literal meaning of 内容をテキストのみに適用 is "Apply only ...
- 306k
1
vote
Accepted
Is there any idiomatic way to express doing an activity or behaving "like an old man" or "not in a cool way", particularly in the context of skiing?
Please read my comments under your original question first.
In this post, I'm specifically answering only to:
I'm struggling to find the translation for "turns", the plural noun, as in ski ...
- 6,541
1
vote
Addressing people in the Japanese Christian/Catholic Church
Not Christian, but I know 神父(さん/様) is used in at least some contexts for priests, and I think I've heard 兄弟 for 'brother'.
- 11.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible