奇想天外

きそうてんがい
ki sou ten gai

I go through a lot of phases in Japan. Sometimes I'll get really into exercising and jogging. Sometimes I'll study like crazy for two weeks. Other times I'll play guitar, or cook, or write, or blog. Hell, check out the HUGE gaps in the time-line of this blog... when I wasn't dedicated to it, I was busy being dedicated to something else. It leaves me pretty consistently ALMOST in shape, with a variety of hobbies that I'm ALMOST good at.

The last few weeks, I've been in a reading phase, and I'm working on Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. So far it's an amazing historical fiction epic, dealing with the lives of men like Newton, Hooke, Leibniz, and Wilkins. A scene that I read the other day prompted me to dust off 奇想天外。

Definition:
普通の人ではとても考え付かないような変わった思いつき。
Translation:
1: A brilliant idea
2: A bizarre idea
3: An idea generated by a highly unconventional way of thinking.

The scene in question involves an inquiry Newton makes into the abilities of the eye. After reading Boyle's theories and observations on colors, Newton realizes that all of these observations were based on the assumption that the eye was an objective seeing instrument. To test this assumed objectivity, he inserts a darning needle into the socket next to his eye, and records the changes in his vision that occur when he uses the needle to put pressure on and change the SHAPE OF HIS EYE. Brilliant? Yes. Would the average person EVER think of doing something like this? NO. That's 奇想天外.

Now just imagine those lines going through his eye...

例文：
A-san: 昨日、皆でプールで泳ぎながら、俺のバカ息子は突然に、プールから上がって、水着を外して、ちんちん出して、プールに小便した。
Yesterday, we were all swimming at the pool, when suddenly, my idiot son gets out, drops his bathing suit, pulls out his junk, and starts pissing right in the pool!
B-san: ええー？何で？
What? Why?
A-san: 水着をぬらしたくなかったって。
He said he didn't want to get his bathing suit wet!
B-san:　奇想天外だよ！
That's brilliant!

Special thanks to Things We Lost in The Fire, for providing the inspiration for today's example.