羊質虎皮

ようしつ　こひ
youshitsu kohi

I was watching a Quiz Bangumi on TV the other night, and anytime they're focused on either kanji or the Japanese language, you can guarantee a 四字熟語 question or two. Sometimes even a whole category. So I was psyched when they announced that the next game was for a team of contestants to name as many yo-jis as they could... that begin with a character from the や行.

I didn't know a single one. Stupid や行。 To my credit, the players couldn't think of more than two, but I can't get over the burning shame of such a poor showing, so I'm taking steps to revenge myself on that show.

Step one: Post a bunch of yoji that begin with や、ゆ、よ。
Step two: Consume my own bile.
Step three: Wage total warfare against their kingdom.

For a detailed explanation of why steps two and three are necessary, please see 会稽之恥/臥薪嘗胆.

So today we start with 羊質虎皮：　The quality of a sheep, the skin of a tiger. Kind of like the complete opposite of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Definition:
羊が虎の皮をかぶる。外見は立派だが、実質が伴っていないことにたとえる。見かけだおし。
Translations:
1. Sheep in wolf's clothing.
２．All bark, no bite.
3. Looks great, but lacks substance.

We've covered all kinds of things that you can associate with 羊質虎皮. Do you remember any of them?

How about the extremely rarely used あだ花, that we included in our flower trivia?

Or what about some of the opposites in regard to 能ある鷹は爪を隠す?

This is a yo-ji that's hard to get into sentences, but when you do, try using it with になる、or very plainly. Like ｢あの人よく言うけど、羊質虎皮だ。」

例文：
Aさん：あの政治家はただ美辞麗句を並んでいると思わない？
Don't you think that politician's just making a bunch of flowery, meaningless statements.
Bさん：うん。キャンペーン中だから、特に羊質虎皮になっているって感じだ。
Yeah. Especially since he's in the middle of campaigning. He's really putting sheep into tigers over there*.


*A better translation might be "He's really putting on airs."