Your favourite or most usefull Japanese Saying

[Satsujin]

We all have one (or more than one). Sayings that we use all the time or find really useful. We know Peter's is: 本当? or maybe ぜっこうちょう. What are yours?

Here are some of mine:

私のせいではありません: It's not my fault.
態と 【わざ】ではありませんでした: It wasn't on purpose.
許【ゆる】してください: Please forgive me.

Isn't married life great?

[Charles]

That's great! At first I was thinking, "what is this guy doing that makes these phrases so useful?" ;)

I would say 『お邪魔します』when visiting my professor for extra help and she always thought that was excellent. I think she appreciated it more because she's rather old and does not get exactly the same flavor of respect from her American students as she perhaps would if they were Japanese. It's just our culture to be more familiar with our teachers and, perhaps unfortunately, generally not reserve respect for people because of their age.

Say it when you enter your professor's office, even if it doesn't look like you're interrupting anything at all and you already have an appointment. You're still in his or her space, you know?


As for favorites, there are so many 4-kanji idioms that I think are so cool, but I haven't had a chance to use them yet! Like 『自由自在』【じゆうじざい】, which means "freely." Unrestricted and unrestrained, following your heart's desire. The great thing about it is that it can also mean "with great dexterity and fluency" at the same time, as if doing something on your own will is the same as doing it well. It hasn't been a very common idea in the history of either Western or Eastern civilization, has it?

大学生は　自由自在に　日本語を　勉強し始めた。


But you married fellas might find 『才色兼備』and『天下一品』useful. Use the second one for stuff she's made or food she prepared. Don't overuse them. O:)

[Bueller_007]

As anyone who has lived in Japan can attest, the most useful Japanese phrase is:
袋はいらないです。（ふくろ は いらない です; "I don't need a bag."）

[Satsujin]

If I used さいしょくけんび I would be told うるさい....but she would probably, in truth be happy.

As for entering a teacher's office or the teachers room most of the time I heard
しつれいしま before the students entered and 失礼しました before they left (bowing while saying it).

As for not needing a bag I used to use that all the time at the grocery store in Japan. I just put my stuff in my backpack anyway so there was no point in taking the bags. Lots of recycing in Japan but they are crazy wasteful about packaging stuff.

[Brody]

I work here in the U.S. at a Home Depot that is utterly chaotic. As a joke I wrote
万歳！！！ on my apron really big because when I start my shift and see the multitudes of mad customers, I feel like a samurai riding to his death.

[Satsujin]

OK since not many people are adding sayings I will make this a test of Japanese hougen. I have a few books on this so I can put out a number of questions.

the first one is:

油を売る: abura wo uru

If you directly translate the meaning it becomes : "Sell some oil" but it has another meaning than that. I used to watch an NHK show called kotoba no ge-mu (word game). And this saying came up...that was a great show too bad they aren't showing it anymore.

Anyway good luck. I will post the correct answer in a few days.

[Charles]

Shoot, I already cheated by using the Firefox plugin.

Actually, one could say that I did 油を売る . . .

[Satsujin]

Full points if you can explain the orgin of the saying in addition to the meaning.

[Bueller_007]

Full points if you can explain the orgin of the saying in addition to the meaning.

I assume you read part of that terrible "The Japanese Have a Word For It" book as well. A lot of the stuff in that book is BS, in case you didn't already know. Like when he says 憧れ means an intense yearning for foreign things... There are typos in there as well.

Anyway, here's a (Japanese) link to 油を売る:
http://gogen-allguide.com/a/aburawouru.html

[Satsujin]

I didn't read the book you mentioned. Like I said I got this one from a NHK show called "kotoba ge-mu" in a section of the show called "kotoba no ba". Unfortunately, they aren't making any new shows.

Anyway the link provides a good explanation. I didn't know it was from hair oil though.

The show I saw explained that when you went to buy oil it took a long time to pour the oil from the barrells into the container for the customers. While the oil was being poured the store keeper and the customer would engage in idle chatter.

Thus "abura wo uru" came to mean engaging in idle chatter to pass the time or just passing the time.

OK next one:

後の祭り: あとのまつり: "ato no matsuri" or "after the festival"

Try not to use the rikai like services to figure this one out.

[metablue]

That festival one was in a podcast! It means closing the stable door after the horse has fled.

[bob1777]

...OK next one:

good idea Satsujin, keep going please! (Why don't you create a "Word game:..." thread every time you post a new one.)

[Satsujin]

Didn't know that this one had been covered in the podcast. The appropriate English version would be closing the barn door after the horse has fled. Another good translation would be "too little too late"

If you show up to the fair grounds after the Matsuri is over you missed out on all the fun. So you can use "ato no matsuri" When something is done too late to be of any use.

Here is another classic Japanese saying (I think this one has it's orgins from China):

井の中の蛙大海を知らず - いのなかのかわずたいかいをしらず - i no naka no kawazu taikai wo shirazu

"i" means well
"kawazu" or more commonly referred to as "kaeru" means frog
"taikai" means ocean.

I can't say to much more without giving away the meaning.

[metablue]

This one just came up in the last JCC. "A frog in a well doesn't understand the large ocean." I won't say anymore to give people a chance to listen.

btw, I'm glad you told us that "i" means well, or I would have translated that as "stomach".
o.O

[Satsujin]

Geee I just listened to the Animals 2 podcast and you are right they already used it. Like they said in the podcast the saying means somebody who doesn't know much about the world around them. I think that it could be translated as "a big fish in a little pond"

Ok I guess I need another one than.

This one isn't so hard but some Japanese aren't familar with it...

左うちわ: hidari uchiwa

good luck and try not to cheat.