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How odd it is that “She’s a riot!” means someone’s funny. English speakers even say that something’s “riotously funny.” I’ve never been to a riot, but from the photos I’ve seen, nothing amusing happens at such events.
Riot After an Election
Photo Credit: Daniel Meyer
In Japanese, too, there seems to be a fine line between riots and merrymaking. Take this word, for instance:
騒乱 (sōran: riot, disturbance) clamor + disorder
Last week we saw how 騒 (SŌ, sawa(gu): clamor, noise, disturbance; to make a fuss) plays a part in 大騒ぎ (ōsawagi), which means “shocking events.” Now we see that in 騒乱, the same kanji helps to cause a riot.
If you flip 騒乱 and add a “foolish spirit” to it, your riot turns into a party:
乱痴気騒ぎ (ranchiki sawagi: boisterous merrymaking)
disorder + foolish + spirit + clamor
And if you’d like to “make merry” in a different way, here’s another option:
底抜け騒ぎ (sokonuke sawagi: boisterous merrymaking)
bottom + to remove + clamor
Ah, 底抜け (sokonuke) breaks down as bottom + to remove and means “bottomless”! And no, even though there’s boisterous merrymaking at hand, we’re not talking about bottomless pants (a la David Lee Roth).
Further Notes on Bottomlessness …
Boisterous merrymaking is one thing, but what about when the fun becomes disorderly? Then you have this situation:
悪騒ぎ (warusawagi: disorderly merrymaking; making a fuss without considering the annoyance it causes others) bad + clamor
Disorderly merrymaking? Not allowed! First, you need to clean off your desk and get your files in order, aligning your stapler just so and disentangling your paper clips. Only then is it OK to have fun!
If you want to throw a party in Japan, you’ll most likely put rice on the menu. And if you don’t? You might face these consequences:
米騒動 (kome sōdō: rice riot) rice + riot (last 2 chars.)
Certain parts of the world have race riots. But the Japanese have rice riots.
If you take the rice out of the rice riot, you find this:
騒動 (sōdō: riot, rebellion) clamor + to fall into disorder
I didn’t realize 動 (DŌ, ugo(ku)), which usually means “to move,” could also mean “to fall into disorder.”
Working from this basis, you can embellish on your riots a little bit:
一騒動 (hitosōdō: disturbance, kerfuffle)
one + riot (last 2 chars.)
A kerfuffle! I can just hear an older man with a tweedy hat, walking stick, and a proper British accent as he asks, “I say, what in blazes is the meaning of this dreadful kerfuffle?”
The answer?
“Rice, of course. It started when an order of paella never showed up. Then a serving of bad biryani inflamed feelings further. The meal ended in a huge kerfuffle.”
And to think—you can produce such a kerfuffle merely by adding the kanji for “one”: 一. What would happen if you added “two”: 二? A double kerfuffle?
Time for your Verbal Logic Quiz. Enjoy. And may you have a kerfuffle-free day!
