慣用表現 II

チームの足あしを引ひっ張ぱってしまった。

I ended up holding the team back.

Usage Slowing the group down, whether meaning to or not. Often used of oneself in apology.

Remember it 足 (leg) + 引っ張る (pull) → grabbing the leg of someone who is trying to run.

どこで油あぶらを売うっていたんだ。

Where have you been idling about?

Usage Loafing instead of working. From Edo-period oil sellers, who chatted at length while the oil ran slowly into the customer's jar.

Remember it 油 (oil) + 売る (sell) → the oil seller talking while the oil takes its time.

何なにを言いわれても痛いたくも痒かゆくもない。

Whatever they say about me, it does not trouble me at all.

Usage Being wholly unaffected by criticism or loss. It is ALWAYS in this negative form.

Remember it 痛くも (neither painful) + 痒くも (nor itchy) + ない → it does not hurt and it does not even itch.

今回こんかいだけは大目おおめに見みてほしい。

I hope you will overlook it just this once.

Usage Letting a small fault pass. The speaker is usually in the senior position.

Remember it 大 (large) + 目 (eye) + 見る (look) → looking at it with a wide eye that lets small things through.

彼かれは業界ぎょうかいで顔かおが広ひろい。

He is well connected in the industry.

Usage Having a wide network of acquaintances. Complimentary.

Remember it 顔 (face) + 広い (wide) → a face known across a wide area.

母はははいつも弟おとうとの肩かたを持もつ。

My mother always takes my younger brother's side.

Usage Taking one party's side in a dispute, with a hint of partiality. Usually mildly reproachful.

Remember it 肩 (shoulder) + 持つ (hold up) → holding up one person's shoulder and not the other's.

結果けっかが気きになって気きが気きでない。

I am so anxious about the result that I cannot settle.

Usage Being beside oneself with worry, unable to concentrate on anything. It is ALWAYS in this negative form.

Remember it 気 (the mind) + 気でない (is not the mind) → your mind is no longer your mind.

余計よけいなことに首くびを突つっ込こむな。

Do not go poking your nose into things that are not your concern.

Usage Meddling in something that is not your affair. Stronger than 口を挟む, because you involve yourself, not merely your mouth.

Remember it 首 (neck) + 突っ込む (thrust in) → sticking your neck into a hole that was not made for it.

札付ふだつきの問題もんだい児じだった。

He was a notorious troublemaker.

Usage Notorious, with a bad name already attached. Its opposite is 折り紙付き, certified as good.

Remember it 札 (label) + 付き (attached) → goods that already carry a warning label.

医者いしゃにも匙さじを投なげられた。

Even the doctors gave up on him.

Usage Giving up as hopeless. From a physician throwing down the spoon he mixed medicines with. 匙 is a spoon.

Remember it 匙 (medicine spoon) + 投げる (throw down) → the doctor throwing down the spoon because nothing more can be mixed.

計画けいかくを白紙はくしに戻もどした。

The plan was scrapped and started again.

Usage Returning something to a blank sheet, i.e. cancelling it entirely and starting over. Common in news about negotiations.

Remember it 白紙 (blank paper) + 戻す (return to) → the page wiped back to white.

情報じょうほうを鵜呑うのみにしてはいけない。

You must not swallow information uncritically.

Usage Accepting something whole without checking it. 鵜 is a cormorant.

Remember it 鵜 (cormorant) + 呑み (swallowing) → the cormorant that swallows the fish whole, without chewing.

議論ぎろんが袋小路ふくろこうじに入はいり込こんだ。

The discussion ran into a dead end.

Usage An impasse. From a cul-de-sac shaped like a bag: once in, there is no way out. Read ふくろこうじ.

Remember it 袋 (bag) + 小路 (lane) → a lane shaped like a bag, with only the one opening.

その批判ひはんは的外まとはずれだ。

That criticism is beside the point.

Usage Missing the point. Used of arguments and answers that do not address the question. Its opposite is 的確.

Remember it 的 (target) + 外れ (missing) → the arrow that went wide of the target.

親おやの有あり難がたみが身みに染しみた。

The value of one's parents came home to me.

Usage Understanding something through experience rather than theory. Also written 身にしみる.

Remember it 身 (the body) + 染みる (soak into) → soaked in far enough to reach the body itself.

警察けいさつは犯人はんにんの目星めぼしをつけた。

The police have identified a likely suspect.

Usage Narrowing something down to a likely candidate, though not yet certain. Read めぼし.

Remember it 目 (eye) + 星 (the spot) → putting your aiming spot on the one you think it is.

兄あにも頑固がんこだが弟おとうとは輪わをかけて頑固がんこだ。

My elder brother is stubborn, but the younger one even more so.

Usage Even more so than what has just been mentioned. It always compares with the case just stated.

Remember it 輪 (ring) + かけて (adding) → another ring put round the outside of the one already there.