figures of speech Archives - understand-culture

The Vocabulary of Surface Fixes

Kusai mono ni futa o suru (臭い物に蓋をする): to put a lid on what stinks. The magazine DIME explains the proverb as covering the source of a bad smell, instead of removing it, so that the smell does not escape. It means hiding what is inconvenient, so that it does not come to light.

Taishō ryōhō (対症療法): symptomatic treatment. In medicine, it treats the symptoms, not the cause of a disease. The Daijisen dictionary gives a second sense: handling a matter by responding to what appears on the surface, apart from a fundamental solution.

If I Can Make It

Iketara iku (行けたら行く): I will go if I can. In 2020, the columnist Fukazume quoted a reader from the Kansai region in the women’s weekly Josei Seven: Kotchi de wa “iketara iku” wa kesseki no imi desu. Hontō ni kitara bikkuri shimasu. “Here, ‘I’ll go if I can’ means absence. If someone really comes, we are surprised.”

A 2023 etiquette article on Mynavi News advises against such vague answers. A person who wants to decline, it says, makes a better impression by declining clearly.

The Vocabulary of Face

Kao ga tatsu (顔が立つ): the face stands. The Daijisen dictionary defines it as keeping one’s honor in the eyes of the world.

Hana o yuzuru (花を譲る): to yield the flower. In this phrase, hana means honor and credit. The Daijisen dictionary gives the example kōhai ni hana o yuzuru , to yield the honor to a junior.

Cutting Off the Lizard’s Tail

Tokage no shippo kiri (トカゲの尻尾切り): cutting off the lizard’s tail. The Japanese dictionary site DiQt defines it as sacrificing a person in a weaker position to escape a crisis or a demand for accountability. In an organization, it means pushing the responsibility for a problem onto a person at the bottom or onto a lower department.

The Vocabulary of Correction

Dame-dashi (駄目出し): putting out the no-good. Pointing out faults and weak points. The word comes from the theater, where dame o dasu means giving an actor notes on what is wrong in the performance.

Mada mada da ne (まだまだだね): not there yet. The catchphrase of Echizen Ryōma, the hero of the tennis manga Tennis no Ōjisama (The Prince of Tennis).

Chūgen mimi ni sakarau (忠言耳に逆らう): loyal advice offends the ear. The Daijisen dictionary traces the saying to Chinese sources such as the Records of the Grand Historian and explains that advice tends to hurt the listener’s feelings and is seldom accepted with an open mind.

The Vocabulary of Speaking Up

Sashidegamashii yō desu ga (差し出がましいようですが): it may be forward of me, but. A cushion phrase before offering advice that may overstep. Sen’etsu nagara (僭越ながら): presumptuous as it is. Used when stating an opinion in front of superiors.

Gyaku pawahara (逆パワハラ): reverse power harassment. Harassment of a boss by subordinates.

Good Medicine Tastes Bitter

Ryōyaku wa kuchi ni nigashi (良薬は口に苦し): good medicine tastes bitter. The Daijisen dictionary traces the saying to the Chinese School Sayings of Confucius. Effective medicine is bitter and hard to swallow. In the same way, good advice is painful to hear but does the listener good.

The same Chinese passage continues with a second saying, chūgen mimi ni sakarau: loyal advice offends the ear.

Crossing on Red Together

Akashingō minna de watareba kowakunai: if everyone crosses on a red light together, it is not scary. The line began as a dark gag by the comedy duo Two Beat, Beat Takeshi and Beat Kiyoshi. It was printed in a book of their jokes in 1980.

Japanese Wikipedia explains the phrase this way. Even something that is forbidden can be done without psychological resistance when it is done as a group. The phrase entered the eighth edition of the dictionary Sanseidō Kokugo Jiten in 2021.

The Vocabulary of Rank

Tsuru no hitokoe (鶴の一声): the single cry of the crane. One word from an important person settles a matter at once.

Nagai mono ni wa makarero (長いものには巻かれろ): let oneself be wrapped by the long thing. It is better to follow the powerful than to resist them.