Title.
I’d have to go for 青木まりこ現象. Also known as the phenomenon of feeling an urge to defecate when stepping inside a bookstore.
Shoutouts to 賢者タイム, 逆鱗に触れる, 足労, 予定調和 (which I’ve actually encountered outside academic contexts a couple times, actually).
Also if 四字熟語 count we have 活字中毒 (which might or might not describe me), 汗牛充棟, 雅俗折衷, 百花繚乱, 一夜乞食 off the top of my head
And how could I forget 下町人情
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のどから手が出る – wanting something *really* badly
I find it interesting that Japanese persons actually use the word “腐れ縁” seemingly.
How can this be common enough to have a word for it that is actually used?
馬が合う. Meaning, for whatever reason, that two people (often the speaker and someone else) get along really well, and often for no specific reason.
What does that have to do with horses? Damned if I know.
Not so easy to quantify, I guess something like
哀毀骨立 （あいきこくりつ）＝父母などの死を悲しむあまり、体がやせ衰えて骨ばること or
落胤 （らくいん）＝身分の高い人が、正妻以外の女性にひそかに生ませた子。おとしだね
edit: 屁負い比丘尼 （へおいびくに）＝良家の妻女や娘などにつき添って、放屁などの過失の責めを代わりに負った比丘尼 is interesting too
また‐び【股火】 の解説
火鉢・行火 (あんか) などにまたがるようにしてあたること。
A specific word for warming one’s nether regions over a hibachi
カエルの面に小便 – urine on a frog’s face
金魚のフン – goldfish poop ( person who just tags along; hanger-on; person who follows someone around like a shadow; clingy person; mindless follower;) – Courtesy of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear.
I love these kinds of post because I still know none of them and it amuses me so much to learn of their existance
I’m still a beginner but to me it was hilarious to know about お釣り intended as “getting your butt splashed by the toilet water when you defecate”
どてかぼちゃ – A pumpkin wildgrown in an embankment. Stunted and not fit to eat. (used to refer to a useless person)
末生り瓢箪（うらなりびょうたん）- A stunted gourd near the tip of the vine. (used for a pale, weak looking person)
独活の大木 (うどのたいぼく) A large Udo plant (ginseng-like plant, useless when fully grown. Used to refer to a big, but useless person)
The one that takes the take is definitely 原風景. But Japanese has many other highly specific words, like 木漏れ日, or 納涼, or 衣替え or 地鎮祭. I speak multiple languages and Japanese is the only one that has such an array of nuanced/specific words.
[右近](#fg “うこん”)の[橘](#fg “たちばな”), or as Jisho so stately describes it “tachibana tree west of the southern stairs of the Hall for State Ceremonies (in Heian Palace)”
木漏れ日 is my favorite.
For me, it’s お持ち帰り – it’s either take out or to bring someone home for a one night stand.
A random collection of random specific terms that just came to mind.
魑魅魍魎 = “evil spirits of rivers and mountains”, only heard it in inuyasha and never since, but I like that every kanji has the same radical, really beautiful 四字熟語 imo.
馬の骨 = derogatory term for a stranger, no idea what it has to do with bones of horses though
元結 = (paper) cord for tying the hair (that shrine maidens wear)
八百万の神 = 多くの神々。The reading just totally throws me of
エンガチョ the english definition of “(you’re) dirty!” really doesn’t explain this word or custom rather I should say. It is used for example, when you step on something dirty like shit. Then you have to hold your hands together (there are some varriations) and someone else has to cut through your hands (with their hands) in orther to cleanse you of the dirt (because your soul in a way also got dirty), and this action is called エンガチョ, I don’t think I would have gotten that if Hayao Miyazaki hadn’t explained it in this one of the behind the scenes of spirited away, appereantly the newer generation does not necesseraily know it anymore.
I had no idea about 青木まりこ現象 until this post. I thought I was the only one.
not exactly oddly specific, but phrases I would have taken too literary:
目がない - crazy about something, like 😍
It’s not I don’t have eyes
赤の他人 - complete stranger, not red person
爪の垢を煎じて飲む takes the cake
テクノブレイク: This is a coined/made-up term from 2ch and has since become a meme. It means death by >!fapping too much!<.
蟹は甲羅に似せて穴を掘る – pretty much means “to each their own”
二刀流 nitouryuu- a style of fencing where you have one sword in each hand- also a euphemism for bisexuality, or liking two things
I think there was some phrase for treachery that also meant to roll over in bed
Ah yeah it was 寝返る
My favorites are
朝飯前 – lit. before breakfast, easily
三日坊主 – lit. three-day monk, someone who can’t stick to one thing
社会の窓が開いてる – lit. your window to society is open, your pants zipper is down
出羽守 (でわのかみ) – someone who constantly brings up the example of Western countries and compares Japan unfavorably to the West. It’s a pun which replaces 「では」の神 with the homophonous historical term for the governor of Dewa province.
does it really count if thats just 現象 attached to the person who described it lol
Aoki Mariko Gensho – The phenomenon described by Aoki Mariko
I do really like
木漏れ or 隙間時間
はんだごて Soldering Iron
積ん読 for sure.
ホモ達 gay friend
トカゲの尻尾切り – to “throw someone under the bus”, to deflect blame onto a subordinate
日洪親善 which means “goodwill between Japan and Hungary”
Today I encountered 空賊 , the word for … air piracy? I realize its just a compound noun probably only ever used in fantasy stories, but it will probably be the weirdest word I’ve ever learned for a while.
猫の手も借りたい – learned this from a coworker at a restaurant. Means you are busy AF