Comme ça du Japon

You probably were intrigued by the idiom 虫の知らせ (Mushi No Shirase) “the word from the vermin (bug)” that I used in the article announcing that I was back from a long silence. A quick search in my japanese electronic dictionnary revealed that there are a whole lot of idioms related to 虫 (Mushi) “bugs”. Well, this is all I needed to start a new serie of posts!

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It seems pretty futile to even try to keep on updating this blog in these dark days. Needless to say, it’s time to invest your time even more wisely to up the ante. I might consider to temporarily change the main topic if the time invested in doing so is justified. See you at the other end of this dark tunnel.

If you have ever wondered how young japanese children eat their meal, then this photo is the answer. As you can see this is a quite odd 箸 (Hashi) “pair of chopsticks”. There is a ring on one of the stick and a U-shaped element on the other. Children are taught to slide their 薬指 (KusuriYubi) “annular finger” through the ring and to place their 人差指 (HitoSashiYubi) “index” on the U-shaped element. When this technique is acquired, hexagonal base chopsticks that are easier to handle are used instead. However, let’s note that nowadays children usually start by using a small spoon and a small fork before learning to use chopsticks.

Japanese words for fingers

You may have been surprised when you read the japanese word 薬指 (KusuriYubi) “annular finger” because it uses the Kanji 薬 (Kusuri) “medicine”. The reason is that this finger has traditionally been used to mix the drug preparations. Here is the list of the japanese words used for the 指 (Yubi) “fingers” :

• 親指 (OyaYubi) “thumb (parents + finger)”
• 人差し指 (HitoSashiYubi) “index finger (person + to point + finger)”
• 中指 (NakaYubi) “middle finger (middle + finger)”,
• 薬指 (KusuriYubi) “annular finger (medicine + finger)”
• 小指 (KoYubi) “pinky (small + finger)”

I just can’t get tired of learning the Japanese language. One of the main reason that makes learning Japanese language such a thrill is discovering words like とかく (ToKaKu). Here is the sentence that made me look up this strange word in my electronic dictionnary.

• いずれにしても、先輩や年長者の言うことは、傾聴するに値するといった戒めですが、とかく若い人たちは年長者を尊敬するよりも、軽くみるといった風潮が強くあります。
• Izure ni shite mo, senpai ya nenchôsha no iu koto ha, keichô suru ni atai suru to itta imashime desu ga, tokaku wakai hitotachi ha nenchôsha wo sonkei suru yori mo, karuku miru to itta fûchô ga tsuyoku arimasu.
• At any rate, the lesson is that it is valuable to listen to one’s Senpai (senior) or elders. However, Tokaku the trend for young adults regarding this matter is not really an attitude of respect but rather an unconcerned attitude.

Even if this sentence makes sense without understanding とかく (ToKaku), I seize any chance to learn new words. Looking up this word in the integrated 広辞苑 (KôJiEn) “Kôjien (Japanese<->Japanese dictionnary)” in my electronic dictionnary not only revealed its meaning but also its writing with Kanji. とかく (ToKaKu) is used to introduce an unexpected example. Its writing in Kanji is 兎角 (ToKaku) “Rabbit - Horn” ! Indeed, a rabbit with horns is not really natural. I learned that there is also 亀毛 (KiMô) “Turtle - Fur/Hair”. However, it is only used in combination with the other word : 亀毛兎角 (KiMôToKaku) is a Buddhism expression used for something that is unreal.

I bet that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would qualify for 亀毛兎角 (KiMôToKaku) !