いち じつ せん しゅう
ichi jitsu sen shuu
Today on the Biennial Yo-ji, we've got some more 4kyuu kanji for you; read it as as it lays: one day thousand autumns.
I remember when I was working at 春、the sushi bar in New York, when I first realized how sometimes, a non-native speaker can speak more profoundly than a native speaker. As a native English speaker, I'm so good at the short-cuts, the easiest, basic, most efficient ways to say things, that I don't concern myself with my diction much. A poet and a language learner have that in common, I guess. They HAVE to agonize over word choice.
I was talking to Jorge, one of the busboys, and we were bitching about the time. And I said, "Man, this sucks. This day is DRAGGGGGGGGING."
And he said, "Yes, ... the time... it becomes eternal."
And Machida-san, the chef said "一日千秋。”*
Definition: 一日が千年にも長く感じられ気持ちどおしいこと。
Translations:
1. The time becomes eternal
2. A seemingly endless stretch of time (implies impatience)
And today's real life example sentence comes once again from the Nirav himself, indisputable proof that sometimes non-native speakers can be more poetic than natives, especially considering the fact that the Japanese girl he said it to DID NOT KNOW WHAT IT MEANT!
例文：君がいないときは一日千秋みたいです。
When you're not here, my heart collapses under the pressure of the bullshit that it pumps instead of blood.**
The video is of October, a Japanese U2 tribute band covering Unchained Melody. I dedicate it to you Nirav, and any other hopeless romantics out there (until I can figure out how to make the video start at the point I want it to, which according to google, I SHOULD be able to do, just save yourself the time and skip ahead to 5:25).
*This part of the conversation invented for purposes of segue.
** VERY LOOSE TRANSLATION
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
言語道断
ごん ご どう だん
gon go dou dan
Today on "The Occasional Yo-ji" we have a failure of language. Literally. The kanji could be translated as "the failure of the methods of language."
Definition: とんでもないこと、言うにたえないこと。
Translations:
(Rikai-chan gives)
1. Preposterous
2. Inexcusable
3. Offensive to a point that defies encapsulation in words
I learned this one and had the opportunity to use it almost immediately. I was told
that this is what you say to someone who does something really bad, when they violate one of the するわけにはいかない rules. When they do something that's forbidden based on societal rules... something that a person KNOWS that they shouldn't do, and yet they do it anyway. When I learned the するわけには行かない construction, Nirav's example was: クラスの前に先生の間違えを正すわけには行かない。 You don't correct the teacher's mistakes in front of the class. That may be true, especially here, but it's not quite so severe a situation that you'd say 言語道断. The lucky opportunity I stumbled across was this one: クラスの前に先生の顔を殴るわけには行かない。 You don't punch your teacher in the face in front of the class. THAT'S 言語道断 right there.
It was in the middle of kyuushoku with an elementary school student, and man, I could've understood it or forgiven it, if it had been during like, rough-housing time (2:30-3:15). But he was eating, I was eating... across the room. He got up, walked over to where I was sitting, looked at me, and then punched me, close-fisted square in the face.
In his defense, he is a first-grader.
In my defense, I've seen my co-workers at middle-school get punched in the face too many times to let that kind of behavior go un-yelled at.
例文：あんたのお嫁さんが病院で赤ちゃんを生んでいる。あんたはバカ外人と暴飲している。それは言語道断！
You! Your wife is at the hospital, birthing a baby. You're getting wasted with your idiot gaijin friends! That's inexcusable!
(Another real life example)
gon go dou dan
Today on "The Occasional Yo-ji" we have a failure of language. Literally. The kanji could be translated as "the failure of the methods of language."
Definition: とんでもないこと、言うにたえないこと。
Translations:
(Rikai-chan gives)
1. Preposterous
2. Inexcusable
3. Offensive to a point that defies encapsulation in words
I learned this one and had the opportunity to use it almost immediately. I was told
that this is what you say to someone who does something really bad, when they violate one of the するわけにはいかない rules. When they do something that's forbidden based on societal rules... something that a person KNOWS that they shouldn't do, and yet they do it anyway. When I learned the するわけには行かない construction, Nirav's example was: クラスの前に先生の間違えを正すわけには行かない。 You don't correct the teacher's mistakes in front of the class. That may be true, especially here, but it's not quite so severe a situation that you'd say 言語道断. The lucky opportunity I stumbled across was this one: クラスの前に先生の顔を殴るわけには行かない。 You don't punch your teacher in the face in front of the class. THAT'S 言語道断 right there.It was in the middle of kyuushoku with an elementary school student, and man, I could've understood it or forgiven it, if it had been during like, rough-housing time (2:30-3:15). But he was eating, I was eating... across the room. He got up, walked over to where I was sitting, looked at me, and then punched me, close-fisted square in the face.
In his defense, he is a first-grader.
In my defense, I've seen my co-workers at middle-school get punched in the face too many times to let that kind of behavior go un-yelled at.
例文：あんたのお嫁さんが病院で赤ちゃんを生んでいる。あんたはバカ外人と暴飲している。それは言語道断！
You! Your wife is at the hospital, birthing a baby. You're getting wasted with your idiot gaijin friends! That's inexcusable!
(Another real life example)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Answer!
Today I'm running pretty close to 自暴自棄, as are some of you apparently (don't give up on ALL people, Clay! Natalie Portman is a person, after all), so first, apologies for missing yesterday. I taught six lessons at Elementary school and then fell asleep until this morning. Second, today I'm short-shafting you, and just giving you Tuesday's answer.
I'm pretty sure "short-shafting" is a mixed metaphor that I just made up... combining "short-shrift" and "shaft" as in "to give someone the shaft." But if "shafting" is bad, shouldn't "short-shafting" be not so bad? I guess my philosophy is that if you're going to do anything, you should do it all the way. If you're going to give or receive the shaft, it might as well be the whole thing. So, sorry for not giving you a thorough enough shafting...
ANSWER:
The actual usage of 海千山千 is negative. A person who has a multitude of different kinds of experience (both good experiences and Dark Side experiences) has the potential, at any time, to be two distinct people. And when dealing with a person like that, you have to be careful, because you never know which dragon you're talking to at any given moment.
例文：彼はちょっと海千山千だから、ご注意してください。
There's something about him that I just don't trust, so please, be careful.
A father's advice to a dating daughter, perhaps?
I'm pretty sure "short-shafting" is a mixed metaphor that I just made up... combining "short-shrift" and "shaft" as in "to give someone the shaft." But if "shafting" is bad, shouldn't "short-shafting" be not so bad? I guess my philosophy is that if you're going to do anything, you should do it all the way. If you're going to give or receive the shaft, it might as well be the whole thing. So, sorry for not giving you a thorough enough shafting...
ANSWER:
The actual usage of 海千山千 is negative. A person who has a multitude of different kinds of experience (both good experiences and Dark Side experiences) has the potential, at any time, to be two distinct people. And when dealing with a person like that, you have to be careful, because you never know which dragon you're talking to at any given moment.
例文：彼はちょっと海千山千だから、ご注意してください。
There's something about him that I just don't trust, so please, be careful.
A father's advice to a dating daughter, perhaps?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
海千山千
うみ せん やま せん
umi sen yama sen
Another group of kanji that are oh-so-easy to read and yet, with today's post, I'm issuing you a challenge. The kanji are just "ocean" and "mountain" broken up by a couple of "thousands," but what does it mean?
I'll give you the strict definition in both Japanese and English, and then (without consulting web resources or Nirav) tell me what you think is the intended application of this 四字熟語。
Definition: 千年海に住んでいて、千年山に住んでいた蛇が竜二人になります。
A snake that lives in the ocean for a thousand years and in the mountains for a thousand years becomes two dragons.
Hint: It has nothing to do with rollercoasters.
umi sen yama sen
Another group of kanji that are oh-so-easy to read and yet, with today's post, I'm issuing you a challenge. The kanji are just "ocean" and "mountain" broken up by a couple of "thousands," but what does it mean?
I'll give you the strict definition in both Japanese and English, and then (without consulting web resources or Nirav) tell me what you think is the intended application of this 四字熟語。
Definition: 千年海に住んでいて、千年山に住んでいた蛇が竜二人になります。
A snake that lives in the ocean for a thousand years and in the mountains for a thousand years becomes two dragons.
Hint: It has nothing to do with rollercoasters.
Monday, November 12, 2007
前代未聞
ぜん だい み もん
zen dai mi mon
Sticking with the generational theme of last Friday's post, today's 四字熟語 starts with "前代" meaning "the previous generation," and ends with "未聞" meaning "not yet heard." My favorite part about this one was that when I saw it for the first time, I recognized all of the individual kanji and was able to surmise the definition on my own!
Definition: 今までに、一度も聞いたことがないこと。
Translations:
1. Completely unprecedented
2. Record-breaking
3. Worse than any of its predecessors
Definition #3 makes an important distinction about this phrase. Like Friday's 時代錯
誤, today's post is traditionally only used in one direction、according to my expert. A quick Googling will yield examples that seem to disprove her (「前代未聞の超リアルおっぱい」certainly doesn't seem like a bad thing to me...) but most of the other examples, largely from the sports world, are in reference to things like scandals, or foul play, or fixed games. Check out this link to an article with the headline 前代未聞 about the woman who disrupted a match at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo when she attempted to climb into the ring, where women are not supposed to set foot.
例文：日本には、学生の恋人がいる教師が少ないけどいる。前代未聞でわない。しかし、ニッキ ニュウ ジャブが名古屋でやった道化は前代未聞の不祥事だよ！
In Japan, it's not common for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with a student, but it happens. It's not unprecedented. However, the crazy shit that Nicky New Job did in Nagoya... there is nothing on historical record to rival a scandal like that.
zen dai mi mon
Sticking with the generational theme of last Friday's post, today's 四字熟語 starts with "前代" meaning "the previous generation," and ends with "未聞" meaning "not yet heard." My favorite part about this one was that when I saw it for the first time, I recognized all of the individual kanji and was able to surmise the definition on my own!
Definition: 今までに、一度も聞いたことがないこと。
Translations:
1. Completely unprecedented
2. Record-breaking
3. Worse than any of its predecessors
Definition #3 makes an important distinction about this phrase. Like Friday's 時代錯
誤, today's post is traditionally only used in one direction、according to my expert. A quick Googling will yield examples that seem to disprove her (「前代未聞の超リアルおっぱい」certainly doesn't seem like a bad thing to me...) but most of the other examples, largely from the sports world, are in reference to things like scandals, or foul play, or fixed games. Check out this link to an article with the headline 前代未聞 about the woman who disrupted a match at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo when she attempted to climb into the ring, where women are not supposed to set foot.例文：日本には、学生の恋人がいる教師が少ないけどいる。前代未聞でわない。しかし、ニッキ ニュウ ジャブが名古屋でやった道化は前代未聞の不祥事だよ！
In Japan, it's not common for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with a student, but it happens. It's not unprecedented. However, the crazy shit that Nicky New Job did in Nagoya... there is nothing on historical record to rival a scandal like that.
Friday, November 9, 2007
時代錯誤
じ だい さく ご
ji dai saku go
The first two kanji together are a very common marker for periods of time, used like we would use the word "era" (the 明治時代 or the 江戸時代) and the second pair means "a mistake."
Definition: 時代の傾向に遅れ合わないこと。
Translations:
1: An anachronism
2: Something outdated
3. Extremely old-fashioned
Today's 四時 does not translate DIRECTLY as an anachronism, because it only applies to something from the past that doesn't have a place in the present. An American man who expects to receive a dowry is both an anachronism and 時代錯誤。A caveman who has a digital watch is anachronistic, but could not be described with 時代錯誤。Also, the advice I've received is that it's best used to describe something intangible, like a way of thinking (考え方) or someone's taste or style (センス).
And then, an extremely old shrine or temple that stands in the center of an urban area would never be called 時代錯誤. Just because it was built long ago doesn't mean that it's necessarily outdated, especially not when it still has cultural relevancy.
例文：この考え方を時代錯誤と言われてきてるが、女性は仕事しないで家にいるべきだろ,お嬢ちゃん。
People say it's an outdated way of thinking, but women should really stay at home and not work, ain't that right, sweetie?
(special thanks to Nirav for the example sentence edit and for being its inspiration.)
ji dai saku go
The first two kanji together are a very common marker for periods of time, used like we would use the word "era" (the 明治時代 or the 江戸時代) and the second pair means "a mistake."
Definition: 時代の傾向に遅れ合わないこと。
Translations:
1: An anachronism
2: Something outdated
3. Extremely old-fashioned
Today's 四時 does not translate DIRECTLY as an anachronism, because it only applies to something from the past that doesn't have a place in the present. An American man who expects to receive a dowry is both an anachronism and 時代錯誤。A caveman who has a digital watch is anachronistic, but could not be described with 時代錯誤。Also, the advice I've received is that it's best used to describe something intangible, like a way of thinking (考え方) or someone's taste or style (センス). And then, an extremely old shrine or temple that stands in the center of an urban area would never be called 時代錯誤. Just because it was built long ago doesn't mean that it's necessarily outdated, especially not when it still has cultural relevancy.
例文：この考え方を時代錯誤と言われてきてるが、女性は仕事しないで家にいるべきだろ,お嬢ちゃん。
People say it's an outdated way of thinking, but women should really stay at home and not work, ain't that right, sweetie?
(special thanks to Nirav for the example sentence edit and for being its inspiration.)
Thursday, November 8, 2007
順風満帆
じゅん ぷう まん ぱん
jun puu man pan
Osu! I apologize for taking two days off! I have tons of excuses, I swear.
Today's Yojijukugo is brought to you by the kanji for "order" (as in 順番), "wind," "satisfactory" (as in 満足), and "sail."
Definition: 追い風を帆いっぱいに受けて舟が気持ちよく進む意から物事が順調に行われること。
Translations:
1. Smooth sailing.
2. Everything's going my way.
3. Everything's coming up roses.
4. To have the wind at your back, and therefore, feel like you can take care of everything that needs to be taken care of.
It's not the exact opposite of Monday's post, but it's close enough, I think. And, I
think that 順風満帆 is also a good metaphor for the feeling you get when you've got not only the metaphorical support of the wind, but the vocal support of a good 応援団 (Oendan) behind you.
Oen means to root for or to cheer for, and Oen-ing is a big deal in Japan. University and professional sports teams have Oendans, students have Oen competitions at schools during their sports festivals, and most importantly, there is an Oen video game, which features a troupe of all-male, fiercely bad-ass looking cheerleaders who travel around Japan and root for people to succeed in every day situations, like cooking an awesome bowl of ramen, passing high school entrance exams, or rescuing their daughters from giant blue demon mice. Some friends and I donned the Oendan mantle, and cheered the Saga Daigaku Ame (rican) Fu (tball) team to a division championship victory two weeks ago(28-3, wasn't it?), and on Saturday, we'll head back to chant our hearts out as they try to win their way into the highest division in Japanese collegiate football! The picture is us posing with the other team's Oendan. You can see why they lost: they don't even have headbands.
例文：何でブレット君は俺たちに「カップテン向かい風」と呼ばれますか？あいつが順風満帆に行ったことがないから。
Why do we call Brett "Captain Headwind," you ask? Because dude has NEVER ONCE had the wind at his back.
jun puu man pan
Osu! I apologize for taking two days off! I have tons of excuses, I swear.
Today's Yojijukugo is brought to you by the kanji for "order" (as in 順番), "wind," "satisfactory" (as in 満足), and "sail."
Definition: 追い風を帆いっぱいに受けて舟が気持ちよく進む意から物事が順調に行われること。
Translations:
1. Smooth sailing.
2. Everything's going my way.
3. Everything's coming up roses.
4. To have the wind at your back, and therefore, feel like you can take care of everything that needs to be taken care of.
It's not the exact opposite of Monday's post, but it's close enough, I think. And, I
think that 順風満帆 is also a good metaphor for the feeling you get when you've got not only the metaphorical support of the wind, but the vocal support of a good 応援団 (Oendan) behind you. Oen means to root for or to cheer for, and Oen-ing is a big deal in Japan. University and professional sports teams have Oendans, students have Oen competitions at schools during their sports festivals, and most importantly, there is an Oen video game, which features a troupe of all-male, fiercely bad-ass looking cheerleaders who travel around Japan and root for people to succeed in every day situations, like cooking an awesome bowl of ramen, passing high school entrance exams, or rescuing their daughters from giant blue demon mice. Some friends and I donned the Oendan mantle, and cheered the Saga Daigaku Ame (rican) Fu (tball) team to a division championship victory two weeks ago(28-3, wasn't it?), and on Saturday, we'll head back to chant our hearts out as they try to win their way into the highest division in Japanese collegiate football! The picture is us posing with the other team's Oendan. You can see why they lost: they don't even have headbands.
例文：何でブレット君は俺たちに「カップテン向かい風」と呼ばれますか？あいつが順風満帆に行ったことがないから。
Why do we call Brett "Captain Headwind," you ask? Because dude has NEVER ONCE had the wind at his back.
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