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It often seems that food is the best entryway into learning Japanese. Without even taking a Japanese class, most of us know words such as sushi, tempura, miso, and so on. Ah, but do you really know all there is to know about miso? Here’s the word in the way you already know it:
味噌 (miso: fermented bean paste) tasty food + boisterous
味噌汁 (miso shiru: miso soup) miso (1st 2 chars.) + soup
Because miso is usually white (shiro, 白), I always want to call this miso shiro. (Plus, that rhymes.) Maybe it would help to associate this shiru with the verb “to know” (shi(ru), 知), using the mnemonic, “If you knew miso like I know miso …” For young’uns who don’t know the reference, it’s from a 1925 song that sometimes includes this lyric: “You’ll get woozy, after just one day with Susie.”
In these cases, 味噌 has a literal, food-related meaning. But that’s not true of the following type of 味噌:
味噌 (miso: key (main) point)
Hope you don’t mind if I cease to define the individual kanji in 味噌 each time they show up. It’s best to view this ateji term holistically.
A sample sentence with 味噌 as “key point”:
この電子辞書は携帯しやすいところが味噌です。
Kono denshi-jisho wa keitai shiyasui tokoro ga miso desu.
The good thing about this electronic dictionary is that it’s easy to carry.
If that usage seems strange, consider that a host of odd expressions have sprung up around miso.
Miso and Weakness
If you love miso, you might say you have a weakness for miso. The Japanese certainly say that about things they love.
Having a Weakness for Things …
But conversely, miso may cause weakness! Check out these expressions:
泣き味噌 (nakimiso: crybaby) to cry + miso
弱味噌 (yowamiso: weakling; coward) weak + miso
In the early days of Kanji Curiosity on my own website, we saw 泣き虫 (nakimushi: crybaby) and 弱虫 (yowamushi: coward). In those compounds, 虫 (mushi: insect) serves as a suffix indicating a negative quality in a person. The 味噌 words above have parallel meanings, suggesting that 味噌 and 虫 have a close relationship. So look for insects in your miso! Maybe they’re the agents of fermentation!
Miso in the Body
As a tooth decays, it becomes mushy. (And “mushy” sounds and looks a lot like mushi, the word for “insect.” Hmm. There’s no significance to that. Just a random thought.)
Anyway, there’s another 虫 and 味噌 link when it comes to cavities. Check out this pair of words:
虫歯 (mushiba: cavity) insect + tooth
This word comes from the idea that tiny bugs cause holes in the teeth.
味噌っ歯 (misoppa: decayed baby tooth) miso + tooth
My first thought on seeing this was that the tooth has become as soft as miso. But now I’m increasingly convinced that 虫 and 味噌 are doppelgangers.
Turns out, miso can also get inside the head, or at least that’s what this compound would suggest:
脳味噌 (nōmiso: brains; brain tissue) brain + miso
Is the miso turning the brain to mush? If so, I’m inclined to listen to the implicit advice of the yomi: NO miso!
I just checked Breen to see if there’s an equivalent word with an insect: 脳虫. There does not appear to be such a word. Whew! I hate to have bugs on the brain, and I would find it even more unpleasant to have bugs in the brain!
Miso as an Insult
If miso can attack one’s own body parts, it can also be harnessed as a weapon against others:
糞味噌に言 (kusomiso ni i(u): to attack verbally (and violently), run down, criticize severely) feces + miso + to say
Check out not only the meaning of the first kanji but also the interesting yomi of kusomiso, which, on its own, means both “sweeping denunciation” and “(confusing) the valuable and the worthless.” The 糞 must be worthless, whereas the 味噌 is valuable.
味噌っ滓 (misokkasu: miso lees; good-for-nothing; immature child or person) miso + grounds, dregs
This compound seems to refer most concretely to the process of making miso and the waste (i.e., lees, grounds, dregs) produced along the way. That waste must be good for nothing—hence the insult. Not sure how immaturity factors into the insult, unless the lees show up in the early part of the miso-making process—that is, when the process is at its least mature.
味噌擂り (misosuri: grinding miso; flattery, a flatterer)
miso + to grind
Two quick observations: misosuri is an anagram of “Missouri”! And the obscure character 擂 (to grind) combines “hand” (
) and “thunder” (雷). Anyway, if you’re tired of insulting people, you might try flattering them. For that you’ll need to grind miso. I thought it would be impossible to grind such a soft substance, but I hear that there are many kinds of miso, and some kinds of miso beans are much harder than others. Maybe grinding the hard ones by hand actually produces a sound like thunder!
Time for your Verbal Logic Quiz!
