表現 Break: 能ある鷹は爪を隠す

I like the animalistic nature of today's 諺, and the advice it offers appeals highly to me, kind of like 不言実行. I've always thought that strengths are strongest when they're kept hidden (and I think that my powerful desire to learn languages is motivated way too much by my dreams of surprising people who think that I don't understand them, like a linguistic-rope-a-dope).

能ある鷹は爪を隠す
のう　ある　たか　は　つめ　を　かくす
nou aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu

Definition:
実力のある者は、それを見せびらかすようなことはしない。
Translations:
Literal - The talented hawk hides his talons.
1. The wise man does not make all of his abilities known.
2. It is better to play some of your cards close to your chest.
3. He/She who knows most, often says least.

Note that the Japanese definition here adds a nuance that my personal inclinations leave out: modesty. You don't just hide your talents because, as Paul Newman says, being the "unknown" gives you strength and makes you cool, but because showing-off is to be frowned upon. Modesty is a highly prized virtue, especially to the Japanese way of thinking.

There are some really cool expressions that encapsulate the same meaning, in an antonymous way:

• 空樽は音が高い
  から　だる　は　おと　が　たかい
  kara daru ha oto ga takai
  
  A loud sound indicates an empty barrel.
  
  
• 能無し犬の高吠え
  のうなし　いぬ　の　たかぼえ
  nounashi inu no takaboe
  
  A barking dog seldom bites (loudness masks weakness).
  
  
• 口達者の仕事下手
  くちだっしゃ　の　しごと　へた
  kuchidassha no shigoto heta
  
  The glib are poor workers.
  
  
• 能無しの口叩き
  のうなし　の　くちたたき
  nounashi no kuchitataki
  
  The incompetence of braggarts.
  
  
• 鳴く猫鼠捕らず
  なく　ねこ　ねずみ　とらず
  naku neko nezumi torazu
  
  The cat that meows doesn't catch the mouse.
  

Wow... there were a lot of those.

例文：
A-san: あの子とファーストデートはどうだった？
How'd your first date with that girl go.
B-san: よかったよ。夕食は俺の手作り料理で、その後ギターで俺のオリジナル曲を彼女に弾いたり、俺が書いたポエムを読んだり、マッサージしたりしてやった。
Sweet. I cooked her dinner, then played her some of my original songs on guitar, read her my poems, and gave her a massage.
A-san: ファーストデートで？お前はバカじゃないの？2番目のデートはどうする予定？
On the first date? Isn't that overkill? What do you have planned for the second date?
B-san: ええと。。。
Uh...
A-san: わからないでしょう！「能ある鷹は爪を隠す」という諺は意味あるよ。
You don't know, do you? There's a reason they say to keep some of your strengths in reserve.

Also, does this proverb make anyone else think of the character Zatoichi? Follow-up question: Anyone see the latest Zatoichi incarnation? The female one?

青息吐息

あおいき　といき
aoiki toiki

Here's a special post-Valentine's Day Yo-ji for all you lovers... who failed miserably on Saturday. That's right, today's post has nothing to do with Valentine's day in general, but the only good image I could find for "blue breath" had hearts in it.

I hope that you can't use 青息吐息 in relation to your Valentine's... but just in case you can, I might as well tell you what it means.

息 is your breath, and 吐息 is a sigh. Less common is 青息,　which means a 'pained sigh.' But it makes sense when you think about some of the other appearances of 青: 顔が青い、青ざめる、青あざ, 青枯れ病 (why do I know that word?), etc.

So put a bunch of pained sighs and regular sighs together, and what do you get?

Definition:
苦しんだり、困ったりしたときにでるため息。またそのような状態。
Translations:
1. Deep distress.
2. Desperation.
3. Involuntary exhalations caused by deep distress or desperation.

You should use this in relation to large sources of stress or anxiety, and it most commonly takes です or だ after it like, 「来週のエバリュエーションのため、彼はさすがに青息吐息だ: Next week's the evaluation, so of course he's really stressed out.」

例文：新車をローンで購入したが返済が大変で、青息吐息の状態である。
I bought my new car with a loan, but because the payments are so immense, it's become a desperate situation.

教科書に載ってない日本語

Even More Japanese That Ain't in The Book


~Feelings, nothing more than feelings~ Part 1 of X

Yet another installment of words and phrases "to help make your 言い回し more 日本人ぽい."
Today, we're going to look at some of the nuances in useage of a whole lot of words used to talk about conditions, mood, feeling, or atmosphere. This is a rich topic, so it will probably turn into more of a series of posts. There is an entire post to be written about each and every one of these words, but hopefully you'll be able to glean enough information here to give yourselves a solid foundation to start doing some learning by experiencing Japanese language firsthand.　(Thanks to Jeff for getting this list started!) Today we are going to focus on the essential building block of feelings/emotions, also known as:

気
き
ki

essence, nature, energy

気 is probably one of the most important words and concepts that you will come across while studying Japanese. It has all kinds of definitions, but in general there seem to be about 5 will help you understand most phrases that you might come across:
1) The basic energy that runs through the universe (kind of like The Force)
2) Life-energy
3) The mind and/or heart, and their various states
4) The atmosphere or essence of a specific place or scene
5) The essence of a given thing; the aspect of a given thing that makes it what it is
If you've ever watched Kung-fu movies, I believe that this is what is commonly referred to as "chi" in the Chinese terminology (though since I'm not a Chinese-speaker, you will have to take that with a grain of salt... or wikipedia). That being said, let's look at some 慣用表現　（かんようひょうげん）, or idiomatic expressions, that make use of this character, if only to gain some kind of familiarity with it.

気を付ける
きをつける
ki wo tsukeru

to be careful; to pay attention

I'm sure that all of you have already heard of/make use of this phrase fairly often. It was certainly the first context in which I learned the word 気, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was true for most Japanese-learners. It is fairly simple; one "attaches" their mind to a specific thing. This is usually used as an admonition to have your mind on whatever you are doing at the time. Notice that a similar construction is used in the intransitive:

気が付く　or　気づく
きがつく　or　きづく
ki ga tsuku OR kidzuku (pronounced kizuku)

to realize; to notice

This is another simple one. It is when your mind or heart attaches to something - that is, realizes it, when something that had escaped your notice before suddenly becomes clear to you. Note that 気づける, which one might try to say as a contraction of 気をづける, actually becomes the potential form of this verb.

気になる
きになる
ki ni naru

to worry about, to wonder about, to be on one's mind

This is another good one, which perhaps some of you don't know. Most people first learn this as meaning "something is worrying me." For example:
デイリー四字は最近変更されてないのが気になる。彼ら元気にしてるかな？
I'm worried about DY's lack of updates recently. I wonder if they're ok?
How sweet of you all to worry about us! There are other uses, too. For example, you might use it to talk about something (someone?) you want to know more about, either in a good way or a bad way. Something might be, for example, 気になるNirav情報満載！ That would mean its full of the Nirav-info that you've all been wondering about! And what a wonderful thing that would be.

気を遣う　OR　気遣い (note the kanji usage! 使う is wrong!)
きをつかう　OR　きづかい
ki wo tsukau OR kidzukai

to consider someone, to worry about someone

Japanese-learners are often faced with the fact that Japanese society tends to be very concerned with appropriate levels of politeness and decorum. Part of this is 気遣い. Put roughly, it means to consider someone's wants or needs, often without being asked. For example, putting out some tea and/sweets when someone comes to visit might be an example of 気遣い. Slowing down or going easy on an amateur is another example. People sometimes use this sarcastically, but that is a topic for another day.

気が利く
きがきく
ki ga kiku

considerate, sharp (as in smart)

People whose 気遣い is on target will often be told that their 気が利く. 利く here means to function or be useful. In other words, if you are a good host, you will know in advance what your guests will need. You can also use it to describe someone who is mentally sharp.

気が合う
きがあう
ki ga au

to get along well

When your 気 and someone else's 気 match up, that means your specific essences match up, and you get along well. When they don't match up, trouble ensues!

気に食わない
きにくわない
ki ni kuwanai

気に障る
きにさわる
ki ni sawaru

to get on one's nerves, to not be able to stand

I put these together because they have essentially the same meaning, although as I understand it 気に障る is more serious. You might notice that 障る is read the same way as 触る. There is a whole post in this, but for now, imagine the feeling of someone 触る-ing your eyeball. That's how I think of the meaning of 障る. And that is the feeling I get when I meet someone who really gets on my nerves. Stop touching my eyeballs!

気が済む
きがすむ
ki ga sumu

to be satisfied, to get something out of one's system

Notice the 済む here (also notice that it is NOT 住む). This character means "to end" or "to be over with." (For example, paying off a loan is called 返済; something that is already spoken for is 約束済み; etc, etc). It can also mean "to subside" or "to clear." Here, your 気 is full of desire to do something - be it cry, scream, play a prank, whatever. Once you've gotten on with it, you can say that your 気が済んだ and you are done with it. Often times you will be asked それで気が済んだのか？ (Is it out of your system now?)

気が散る
きがちる
ki ga chiru

to lose one's concentration

You know when you're trying to study, but there are gunshots outside? Or when you are trying to put together a blog post, but someone keeps g-chatting you? That's the kind of thing that really makes your 気　散る. Think of 散る as things falling haphazardly (perhaps your belongings all over your apartment, or the leaves off of a tree). When this happens to your 気, you lose your ability to focus.

Focus, people, we're almost done.

気をひかれる
きをひかれる
ki wo hikareru

to be distracted

This is slightly different from the above, in that it is more like your mind wanders. Rather than have an external shock (like someone yelling at you), you might be writing your blog post and get distracted by the TV, or by the book on your desk, or by the food in your refrigerator, or by....

Ok, anyway, now that you've got a basic (though by no means exhaustive) idea of what 気 is, next time we go through some of the more complicated 熟語 that contain it, and related words that it would be a good idea to distinguish/differentiate. Until then!

Two-Kanji Yo-ji Week Wrap Up

Just some final notes and additions to this week's Yo-ji posts:

• Although 三三五五(さんさんごご; sansan gogo) is an officially recognized yo-ji, I decided not to write up a whole post for it because it's pretty basic and utilitarian, in the same vein as 天地無用. Rikai-chan will tell you that 三々五々means "in groups of twos or threes," but something in me balks at the idea of translating "five" as "two," so I prefer the second definition it offers: "in small groups."
• 唯唯諾諾 (いいだくだく;ii dakudaku) means "ready and willing." I thought I might gloss over that one, because we'll need it, if we ever get around to writing "The Nightly Yo-ji." Also, I was scared to google it.
• Much like yesterday's 喧々諤々、some people will list 各各然然 (かくかくしかじか; kakukaku shikajika) as a two-kanji yo-ji (using the above kanji or other ateji versions), but it's not a real one. It's a linguistic convention that has been turned into a yo-ji through common usage. It means the same thing as 「ま、そういうことで。」 It functions to mark the end of a topic of conversation, kind of like saying "So... that's that."
  

Daily Double: 喧喧囂囂 and 侃侃諤諤

けんけんごうごう　and　かんかんがくがく
kenken gougou and kankan gakugaku

Winding down the week of two-kanji yo-ji, we've got some high-level rare yo-ji with very similar meanings.　We could have made this a triple by including 喧喧諤諤 (けんけんがくがく;kenkengakugaku*), but let me explain why we didn't after the definitions.

喧々囂々
Definition:
多くの人が喧しくいいはやす様子。
Translation:
1. Pandemonius uproar

侃侃諤諤
Definition:
大勢の人ががやがや騒がしい様子。
Translations:
1. Heated arguing
2. Outspoken about one's beliefs (pushing the boundaries of politeness)

While I was planning out the line-up for this week's theme, I asked some of my friends for contributions, and one of them suggested 喧々諤々, but when I looked it up online, I came across a Japanese forum thread where someone was asking why 喧々諤々 doesn't show up in a 国語辞典. I looked it up in my 四字熟語辞典, and I couldn't find it either. One of the commenters in that thread pointed out that the reason it doesn't show up is because it's not a real 四字熟語. While both my Japanese word processing software and Rikai-chan recognize it (defining it as "tumultuous; everyone voicing their opinions at once), the fact of the matter is that it's an oral tradition, a verbal mangling of today's two. Take the first part of one, the last part of the other, and you've made yourself a brand new idiomatic expression.

If you're writing, I recommend using either 喧々囂々or 侃々諤, whichever suits your purposes. But since they're old and rare, if you want to say something in conversation, people today are much more familiar with the amalgamation: 喧々諤々.

You can follow any of these with the verbs する, or 言う to fit it into a sentence, or you can also use になる。

例文s:

その政治家の天下りについてのコメント後、議会が喧々囂々になってしまいました。
After that politician's remarks on the Amakudari system, the Diet erupted into pandemonium.

姑と話す時は政治や宗教のことを侃々諤々するわけないよ。
There's absolutely no cause for heatedly arguing politics or religion when you're talking to your mother-in law.

救助を待つかゾンビたちと戦って逃げるか、どうするかということを皆に相談したら、全員が喧々諤々言ってしまった。アポカリプスってつらいな。
When I asked whether or not we should stay and wait to be rescued, or try to fight our way through the zombie hordes, everyone began shouting their opinion simultaneously. Man, the apocalypse is rough.


* post-post edit, thanks to Sash's watchful eye.

正正堂堂

せいせい　どうどう
seisei doudou

Continuing this week with the 2 kanji yo-ji theme, we're getting into military territory with 正々堂々.

正 means "true," or "regular." Shows up in 正しい （ただしい）and 正午 (しょうご）and makes things correct, or exact. Double it up, 正正, and you get 'accurate,' 'punctual,' or 'neat.'

堂 makes buildings. 本堂　is the main temple building, 食堂 is a cafeteria, etc. Doubled up, 堂々 is 'magnificent'... or just 'fair.'

Definition:
態度や方法が正しくて立派なさま。陣営などの勢いが盛んなさま。
Translations:
1. Fair and square.
2. Aboveboard.
3. Energetic, vigorous, in an organized way.

This last translation comes from the origin of 正々堂々: Sun Tzu's Art of War. In fact, this yo-ji is a shortened version of this longer quote, translated from the original Chinese: 「正正の旗を邀（むか）うることなく、堂堂の陣を撃つことなし。」 My best translation is: Do not face off against the stately banner, do not attack the well-prepared formation. Not very a good rendition, but it gets the idea across. Imagine a flawless military regiment, in perfect formation, well drilled, and ready for action. It was one of Sun Tzu's most basic strategic concepts: Don't engage an enemy you can't beat; 正正堂堂した敵と戦わないように...


How it made the transition from the idea of high spirits, preparedness, and efficiency at war to today's more common usage, "fair and square," is less clear to me. Maybe it has to do with setting itself at odds with Sun Tzu's philosophy which was all about deception.

Note: I didn't know it at the time, but 風林火山 also comes from Sun Tzu.

Probably not a good idea to try to use the same yo-ji twice in the same sentence with two different meanings, but...

例文：孫子は正々堂々した敵と戦わない方がいいと言いましたが、僕は正々堂々していない人も相手にしたくないです。
Sun Tzu advises not pitting yourself against someone who knows the rules better than you, but I don't want to go up against someone who doesn't play fair either.

表現 Break: 猫被り

If ever there was a 諺 to keep out of a google image search bar, this one is it.

猫被り 　・　 猫を被る
ねこかぶり　・　ねこをかぶる
neko kaburi　・　neko wo kaburu

Definition:
猫のようにうわべだけ柔和にして、内心は貪欲だったり陰険だったりすること。
Translation:
Literal: Wearing a cat.
1. Wolf in sheep's clothing.
2. Feigned naivete.
3. Pretending to be innocent to lure someone in.

Origins for this one are pretty standard. Felines are pretty universally accepted as being kind, when it suits their purposes, and being a generally manipulative animal.

If you like cats, (and NOT in the way that a certain sect of Japanese オタク likes cats: there are CAT maid cafes!), then check out this site, which lists pretty much every Japanese 諺 where cats make an appearance.

And since we're discussing 猫被り, I'd like to raise a point for discussion: Is 猫被り a trait that is considered desirable in a Japanese woman? Culturally, I mean.


(These are some of Yuri's friends. They made this video as humorous presentation for their friend's wedding. We've seen lots of these (they're a common practice) and trust me, in terms of the choreography and production quality, this is on the high end of the scale.)


Back to the matter at hand, according to "Pink Samurai," which is a non-fiction book, not a smutty manga, thank you very much, Japanese males are attracted to the ingenue more than the experienced woman, which explains the obsession with underage girls. The book even analyzes the number of occurences of the phrase 「優しくしてね,」 in personal ads for girls who work in the ヘルス massage industry as a kind of 猫被り, analogous to a western pro saying "Be gentle," with the pretext of inexperience implied.

On a personal level, Brett and I have witnessed a couple of examples of conversations where Japanese girls have claimed to not understand a patently obvious joke about things of a sexual nature. One even claimed to not be able to imagine how the person in this picture (who shall remain nameless) kind of looks like he's violating the karaoke tv.

A Japanese woman whose opinions I value told me that Japanese women do pretend to "not get it," at least in front of other men.
I'd love to hear what Japanese people, or non-Japanese women (koff koff Cassie) who have lived in Japan have to say. I know the foreign female Japan experience and the foreign male Japan experience are very different, and I wonder what kinds of insights my gender might not be privy to.

In the meantime, I think that 猫被り is a good opportunity to revisit some earlier posts and make some clarifications:

• 猫を被ること would go well with the idea of 海千山千: someone who looks like a kindly, wise, Dragonheart-dragon might actually turn out to be a wicked, ravenous, Reign of Fire-dragon.
• 猫を被ること would NOT go well with 衣ばかりで和尚はできぬ, which is more often used to mean "You can't become a monk just by getting the robes," than it is to mean "Appearances can be deceiving."

例文：日刊四字というサイトはちょっと猫被りしていないのかな？女性の意見を積極的に聞き出しているようですが、それは本当かな？実はよくスケベな写真を乗せたり、ブレットが女性差別のことを書いたりしているでしょう。前回のナンパの投稿を見ましたか？怪しい！今回、女の人を参加させようとするけど、本当は女の人の「意見」には興味ないのかな？
That Daily Yoji site is a wolf in sheep's clothing, don't you think? Oh sure, they'll ask for female "input" all nice and polite, but is it for real? The truth is, they're always posting dirty pictures, and Brett's writes sexist comments... And did you see those nanpa posts? Suspect! Sure, this time they're trying to get women involved, but somehow I doubt that it's a woman's "opinion" that they're interested in.