Today's Japanese expression: 首が回らない

This is another one of those Japanese expressions where you really can't guess the meaning from the literal meaning of the words at first sight: 「首が回らない」.

Literally, 「首が回らない」 means something like "my neck doesn't turn", or "I can't turn my neck". Well, if you have troubles with your neck, you can actually use this in a literal way. However, there is another meaning too. This is an example of it's use: 

「借金で首が回らない」(しゃっきんでくびがまわらない), meaning "I can't make ends meet because of my debts". 「首が回らない」 thus means "having trouble making ends meet", or "having trouble getting by", and is often (always?) used in the sense of financial difficulties. I good translation might be "being up to your neck in debts", or "being up to your ears in debts".

The explanation behind this Japanese expression is that the financial difficulties are restricting your freedom in the sense that you can`t just to what you would like to do.

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Today's Japanese expression: 口が堅い

Two guys and a girl are sitting in a restaurant. The girl asks one of the guys whether or not he has a girlfriend. To that the other man says "It's no use to ask him about it", because 「あの人は口が堅いだから」.

Literally, 「口が堅い」 (くちがかたい） means "having a hard mouth". The proper meaning is "being tight-lipped", "being discreet", or "being able to keep a secret". So, in the conversation above, the one guy says "It's no use asking him about it, because he is tight-lipped, he won't speak about this subject".

How about the opposite of 「口が堅い」? You might expect "to have a soft mouth", 「口が柔らかい」（くちがやわらかい) but as far as I know there is no such expression. Instead they say 「口が軽い」(くちがかるい), which means literally "to have a light mouth", or in better English "to be talkative", "to have a loose tongue".


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Today's Japanese expression: 歯に衣着せない

I was watching a short documentary on television today, about some ice skater (I already forgot hist name...). The documentary mentioned that he was very popular: not only did he win many championships, but also: 「記者会見での歯に衣着せぬ発言で大人気でした」.

I have to admit that I did not know 歯に衣着せぬ (or 歯に衣着せない). Neither did I know how to pronounce it: はにきぬきせぬ. 衣（きぬ） is an old word for "clothes". Thus, literally this expression means something like "to not put clothes on ones teeth". A better translation is "to speak frankly" or "to speak bluntly".

So, the ice skater from the documentary was not only popular because of his successes on the ice, but also because he used to speak his mind outright during press conferences.

Another nice example: 「歯に衣着せずに言えば, あの人は男は愚か者だ」 - "To say things frankly, that man is a fool"


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Today's Japanese expression: 身を粉にして働く

Lately, I am taking the bus to work everyday. On the bus I am always reading some Japanese novel. What surprises me is that although the bus ride takes just about 10 minutes, the few pages that I can read always seem to contain some interesting expression. Like this one: 「身を粉にして働く」

It's a dialogue between two guys. One says he thinks that people nowadays don't seem to know what endeavour really is. He says everyone is doing nothing while complaining life is not fair. "I don't know", says the other guy, "僕の目で見れば皆がずいぶん身を粉にして働いているような印象を受けるけど」 ("At least to me it seems like everyone is working themselves to the bone").

Literally, 「身を粉にして働く」means "to work one's body to powder", on in proper English "to work oneself to the bone".

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Today's Japanese expression: ねじを巻く

In the Japanese novel I am reading now, a guy is impressed by the well-ordered life one of his friends is living. He himself is doing nothing with his spare time, yet he decides to do an effort from now on to live a more ordered life:
「僕も僕自身のねじを巻きます！」(ぼくもぼくじしんのねじをまきます).

「ねじを巻く」 normally means "to wind up", with 「ねじ」 being "screw" and 「巻く」"to wind". For example, "to wind up a clock" is 「時計のねじを巻く」. However, in the case of the sentence in the novel, is means something like "to pay attention not to slack or be lazy".

Another example: 「夏休みは普段は特に何もしないで過ごしてしまうので、でも今度はねじを巻いてやろう！」"Normally I spend my summer vacation doing nothing, but this time I will be careful not to slack around!"

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Today's Japanese Expression: 目が節穴

Okay, this one is a expression you will never find in any Japanese language text book. I am 100% sure of it. I was lucky enough to have a colleague who loved teaching me what he used to call "stylish Japanese". This is one of the many expressions he taught me.

「お前の目が節穴か」. Literally: "are your eyes knotholes?". Doesn't make much sense, right? 「節穴」 (ふしあな) means "knothole". The meaning of this expression is something like "you must be blind". I have to admit I don't know the origin of this expression, but if you don't know what a "knothole" is, just do a Google Image search for "節穴", it's not so easy to explain.

Another use is of course: 「私の目は節穴じゃないよ」, meaning "I am not blind, you know".

I love expressions like these. Use this in a conversation with any Japanese person and I can assure you they will be impressed.

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Today's Japanese expression: 猫を被る

This is the conversation where I originally heard this one: one Japanese guy is considering getting a job as a teacher in a 女子大学 (women's college). He says he feels the students there are more intelligent and easier to work with. However, the other guy says: 「気をつけた方がいいですよ。あの女子大の学生は猫を被っているかもしれないから！」

「猫を被る」(ねこをかぶる) literally means something like "to put on a cat"?? which doesn't really make any sense. 被る is usually used for example for "to put on a hat" (帽子を被る). A better interpretation I guess would be "to behave like a cat". The actual meaning of this expression is "to play the hypocrite", or "to pretend to be friendly", "to feign friendliness".

Today’s Japanese expression: 目に浮かぶ

Well, once you start paying attention to it, you really see and hear expressions everywhere.

Last night someone said this on television: 「彼女が家に帰って皆に嘘をついたのよ。そういうのありありと目に浮かぶのよ」("She went home and told lies to everyone. I can easily picture that in my head"). 「目に浮かぶ」(めにうかぶ) means "to picture something", "to come into one's mind". 浮かぶ in Japanese means "to float", "to come to the surface", so I guess that 「目に浮かぶ」 means literally "to come to one's eyes"...?

There are also the following Japanese expression:「心に浮かぶ」「頭に浮かぶ」「胸に浮かぶ」, which all have a somewhat similar meaning ("to come to mind", " to cross one's mind").

Today’s Japanese expression: 鼻にかける

Again from a novel I am reading. I found this interesting expression: 「鼻にかける」(はなにかける). I have to admit this was my first encounter with this expression so I checked it in my electronic dictionary, although I could easily guess the meaning from context:

A person is talking about her sister, who is really smart and talented. But, she says: 「つんつんしたり鼻にかけたりするような人ではなかった」. The meaning of 「鼻にかける」 is "to be boastful".　So, although her sister is really smart, "she was not the kind of person to behave in an arrogant way".

Which made me think about another expression in the Japanese language: 「鼻が長い」(はながながい, literally: "having a long nose"), which has a similar meaning.

These are certainly not the only examples where Japanese culture makes a connection between noses and pride. See for example 天狗 (てんぐ, Tengu), which are mythological creatures characterized by arrogant and boastful behaviour. These creatures too, are often pictured as humans with an unnaturally long nose. 「天狗になる」 ("to turn into a Tengu") means "to become arrogant" or "to become boastful".

Today’s Japanese expression: 息を殺す

One fun part of learning Japanese is the many interesting expressions this language has. Today I am going to introduce one that I came across recently while reading a novel.

The main character of this novel is walking through a dark forest late at night. He feels as if the animals in the forest are holding their breath as he walks by. The Japanese expression for “to hold one’s breath” is “息を殺す” (いきをころす), which literally means “to kill ones breath”.

Example:「私は息を殺して、様子を見守った」- I watched what was happening holding my breath.