genmai / brown rice

[shiracoffee]

Hi, JPodders! (I have no idea if that is the correct appellation...)

So tonight I had my usual skype call to Japan and hit one of those cultural moments that are baffling. The topic of food came up, and from there, the topic of rice. My friend said she is buying a household rice mill (精米機). That was interesting -- I have never seen such a device for sale here (in America.) She explained that she and her family have decided to buy genmai and polish it right before cooking, which is good for several reasons. First, freshly polished rice is tastier. Second, genmai keeps well. And third, it gives her absolute control of the degree of polishing. She used terms like 一分づき, 三分づき, 五分づき and 胚芽米, which are beyond me.. and my dictionary. At first, I blush to say, I confused it with "Minute Rice", which I despise. But hey, I do not live in a rice culture. 教えてくれる方がいたら、本当にありがたいですよ。

Then the conversation took a downright bizarre turn. I said I liked genmai -- meaning, brown rice. My friend was surprised when I explained that I cook it in a regular pot (not necessarily a pressure cooker, though I occasionally use that if I am in a hurry). She thought genmai will not cook properly without pressure.

So now, after hanging up so of course I cannot ask my friend, I am beginning to think that perhaps what she means by genmai is different from what I mean by "brown rice"? Actually, all I know about rice is what is printed on the bag -- like it's basmati rice, or risotto rice, or brown rice, and you add this much water to this much rice and cook for this amount of time. My sophistication extends only to marking the package if I change the recipe a tad and it works well. Clearly there is a whole raft of information out there that is beyond my ken. Can anyone clarify for me? おねがいします～～～！

Shira

[Psy]

To be perfectly honest, before this post I was unfamiliar with most of these terms. As I'm riding entirely on intuition, I could be completely wrong here:

付き(tsuki/zuki) has a few uses, but one that pops out at me here is the one that says, "expresses what's indicated by the word to which it's attached." In other words, while 顔 is "face," the thing that is indicated by a face is the 顔付き "expression." While 言葉 is "word," the thing that it indicates is a 言葉付き "wording." Likewise, I'm thinking that 五分づき is indicative of the by-product of something getting 5 minutes-- in this case, the number of minutes the 玄米 had in the 精米機. To be less technical (and this is how I think of it), you just think of something stuck （付ける）onto something else, e.g.５分づき "five-minutes stuck on (the brown rice)." It's a bit of a stretch sometimes but it gets the meaning across. 胚芽米 would be the rice equivalent of wheat germ.

For something a little more visual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6zEw09x6k0

[shiracoffee]

付き(tsuki/zuki) has a few uses, but one that pops out at me here is the one that says, "expresses what's indicated by the word to which it's attached." In other words, while 顔 is "face," the thing that is indicated by a face is the 顔付き "expression." While 言葉 is "word," the thing that it indicates is a 言葉付き "wording." Likewise, I'm thinking that 五分づき is indicative of the by-product of something getting 5 minutes-- in this case, the number of minutes the 玄米 had in the 精米機. To be less technical (and this is how I think of it), you just think of something stuck （付ける）onto something else, e.g.５分づき "five-minutes stuck on (the brown rice)." It's a bit of a stretch sometimes but it gets the meaning across. 胚芽米 would be the rice equivalent of wheat germ.

For something a little more visual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6zEw09x6k0

Thanks for the response, Psy! I think you might be right about the role of づき. However, I got the impression that 分 in these expressions has nothing to do with minutes (despite my initial assumption).

I'm also curious to know what the vocabulary challenge is?

Shira

[Psy]

It's unrelated to this thread, but since you asked: I'm challenging myself to pick up 10,000 words by next Spring, and to do this I'm using a delayed-recall flashcard program called Anki. I've established a rule for myself that any new/unfamiliar words I encounter during everyday practice go onto the pile. Sometimes I also provide the context in which I found the word but, most of the time, since I pick up every word in context, a sense of its usage comes along naturally.

So, for motivation I keep the tally in my forum signature. It's not an endeavor for the impatient. However, in spite of not even being 20% done, the rewards are already starting to show. Today will be word 1,700.