表現 Break: 取らぬ狸の皮算用

Do you guys know the Tanuki?

The Tanuki, or Racoon Dog as he gets called in English, is a mischievous prankster animal, who shows up all the time in Japanese folklore and mythology. He can range from mildly annoying sake thief, to romancer of farmer's daughters, to a ravenous bean eater who murders an elderly woman, makes soup out of her, and feeds said soup to her husband as is the case in this CHILDREN'S STORY (Wait until you see what the rabbit does to get revenge)!

He's also famous for having the power to change his appearance, and for having testicles large enough to play the drums on. Or use as a futon.

Today's 諺 is largely tanuki based, but I got too excited when I first heard it, expecting that there would be a bizarre fairy-tale or legend to go along with it. While it does reference skin removal, it doesn't go into the entertaining detail that かちかちやま does. This saying is much more straightforward.

取らぬ狸の皮算用
とらぬ　たぬき　の　かわざんよう
toranu tanuki no kawazanyou

Definition:
不確実な事柄に期待を掛けて、まだ実現していないのに、それを元にあれこれ計画を立てること。
Translation:
1. Don't count your tanuki-skins before you've skinned them.
2. Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

The reason that this saying uses tanukis specifically is because of their rascally wiles and their magical abilities to escape or to talk their way out of trouble before trappers can get their skins off. There are some web definitions that define the saying as covering all range of preparations: estimating hide yield, making profit estimates, borrowing/buying based on those profits, etc, before one even catches the tanuki in question. But the idea is basically the same at heart.

Interesting notes about this saying:

• Like so many others, it preserves the archaic ～ぬ　(=　～ない) form of conjugation.
• It is often used in shortened form; Just saying 「皮算用」 suffices, which explains why kanji characters that literally mean "skin computation" get Rikai-channed as "an overoptimistic calculation; unreliable account."
• There are some cool equivalent expressions, like 「先ずウサギを捕まえる: First, CATCH the rabbit」 and 「穴の狢を値段する: Pricing the badger when it's still in the hole.」
  

例文：入学試験の結果はまだ分からないのに、もうクラス登録を計画しているの？取らぬ狸を皮算用」っていうことを聞いたことないの？
You're planning out your course registration, even though you don't even know your entrance exam results? Didn't anyone ever tell you not to count your chickens before they hatch?

Japanese Language Trivia of the Day:

I meant for this to be a short and sweet post based on something that once happened to me, but as it turns out, it didn't mean quite what I thought I did.

I once heard someone say that the problem with learning by immersion is misapplication. It's easy to pick up a new word, but a lot of times, since you've only noticed the word in one context, you haven't really understood the nuance of it. I learned the phrase 「はっきり言って」 by hearing it repeatedly from other English teachers, and was told that it meant "speak clearly." But when I tried to use it as "Speak up" or "Don't garble your words," I found out that it actually means more like "Say what you mean; Express yourself plainly."

Brett learned 衣替え as "change of clothing," which is technically accurate, but if you were to ask someone to bring a 衣替え、in case we decide to go swimming or stay the night, they'd be pretty confused.

So, I had today's trivia applied to me when I asked someone to pass me a piece of pizza, despite the fact that there was another plate of pizza right next to me. The out-of-reach pizza, however, was from Costco in Fukuoka, while the pizza at my side looked like this.

いいとこ取り
いいとこどり
ii toko dori

I got all kinds of confused at first, because I thought they said itoko-douri, which translates as "cousin road." And that's just weird. But the way it actually breaks down is "Good place picker-upper."

This happened last year, and I've spent all of my time, until today, believing that the full purpose of いいとこどり was to refer to those who swipe the best bits, in a very concrete, food related way. Not so.

いいとこどり is more of a general philosophical outlook, describing someone who looks for the good in things and ignores the bad. An optimist. A silver-lining seeker.

Check out this book about how to live an いいとこどり life (Step 1: Get a hybrid car).

So in the spirit of this bit of trivia, I choose not to reflect on the fact that I haven't really understood this phrase and have probably been using it awkwardly for a long time, but I'll focus on the fact that today's 表現 and trivia are perfect complements. Anyone who says "渡る世間に鬼はない" is definetly　いいとこどりしている.

Feel free to use it in the food sense as well, but don't be surprised if the Japanese people you use it with are impressed at your ability to craft high concept jokes.

Also, enjoy Colin, who comments on The Yoji sometimes and has a funny song related to optimism, as well as this one anthemic song about his time in Japan: tell me you don't hear an desperate attempt at いいとこどり reasoning in the chorus.