(The increasingly less) Daily senryu thread

That’s an interesting distinction, I don’t think we can tell based on the Japanese, but I could be wrong

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My interpretation is After being told about being second choice, our love ended which could have either participant as the main actor. But to me it seems more likely that the writer was told, just from my interpretation of the passive voice.

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Damn I just check this thread for the very first time and y’all translating some heavy shit lol.

I see some right answers and wrong answers, so while I’m here:

Summary

It means “love that ends after being told ‘you’re my second choice’”. (I.e. there’s someone I 好きmore)

There is only one other possible interpretation, but it doesn’t make sense so its easy to tell that’s not what they were going for. The other possible interpretation is “love that ends after your second choice tells you they like you”. This would be essentially parsing it as 二番目に、「好き」と言われて終わる恋

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Well, senryu are many things, but “heavy” is rarely one. The ones in the “intense” category sometimes come close, though. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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We seem to have come to a consensus on how to interpret this one.

Now we just need some English senryu submissions.

It’s a holiday weekend in the US, so I expect activity may be light. So let me make an attempt:

二番目に好きと言われて終わる恋

にばんめに・すきといわれて・おわるこい

He tells me
“I like you second best”
Loving ends

I’ll wait for another several hours before posting the next one. I’m certain you folks can come up with something better!

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Sunday, September 4, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. 二番目に好きと言われて終わる恋
    にばんめに・すきといわれて・おわるこい
    He tells me / “I like you second best” / Loving ends

Looks like nobody wants to submit another attempt, so you’ll have to suffer with my translation!

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Life in one page

  1. こりゃ誰だこの歌なんだ大みそか

Hmm. I understand the first part of this, but I’m mystified what it has to do with the end!


Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.

Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level! Questions and comments are as valued as translation submissions.

Please try not to be disappointed if your translation isn’t selected or if you disagree with the daily choice: the judge isn’t terribly consistent with his grading (and has awful taste!).
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源(ごげん)由来(ゆらい)辞典(じてん) is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.

Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.

Likely a reference to popular new-year’s entertainment show NHK紅白歌合戦 and to typical old person reactions to all the current-generation pop stars who appear in it…

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Ah! That makes sense. I’m familiar with 紅白 but hadn’t made the connection. Thanks!

I don’t get the popularity, but I guess the Jerry Lewis Telethon was popular for many years over here. Equally spamtastic.

It wouldn’t let me quote from the spoiler strangely enough, but I know from first hand experience, Japan is so wicked humid that the need for a handkerchief is more necessary now because people will openly have sweat dripping down their face, arms, neck, back, everywhere! just because putting on the Air conditioning costs money.

I’m sure the later explanation of man, of course I find it now despite looking everywhere for it before works too, but summer handkerchiefs are super super important lol

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こりゃだれだこのうたなんだおおみそか

I say now/ who’s New Years Eve/ song is this?

Notes

I think the なんだ大みそか is expressing the author’s upsetness? at the choice of song. Looking up on jisho all of the なんだ expressions follow a 一体 type of vibe. I get the vibe that the author is older and maybe doesn’t appreciate modern NYE songs? and wants something traditional.

I could also be wrong too. These are just my guesses lol

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Your submission is perfect. I think @pm215 has it right about 紅白 though. It’s been a regular thing on TV for New Years since before I was born. My wife and daughters watch it every year — I can’t take it myself.

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Ohhhh I have never seen it written out in Kanji before, That’s definitely correct. I haven’t seen it but my students talked about it last year as a tradition they do during NYE. なるほどー

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Monday, September 5, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. こりゃ誰だこの歌なんだ大みそか
    こりゃだれだこのうたなんだおおみそか
    I say now/ who’s New Years Eve/ song is this?

Notes:

  • As pointed out by @pm215, this is almost certainly a nod to NHK’s 紅白歌合戦 , a popular show broadcast on new year’s eve every year since the early 1950’s. This senryu seems to be making fun of the oldsters complaining about the new acts.

    If you’re an American of a certain age, think “the Jerry Lewis Telethon.” 紅白(こうはく) is just as cheesy, but instead of a donations counter they count votes for the red and white teams. A timely reference since today is Labor Day in the US!

  • The kanji for the last day of the lunar year (celebrated in Japan on 12/31) is 大晦日(おおみそか), but the middle character is fairly uncommon and isn’t taught on Wanikani. It means dark/disappear and is read カイ、つごもり、くら・い、みそか、くら・む.

  • “I say now!” has a wonderfully old-fashioned vibe that seems to fit this senryu perfectly. To my ears, こりゃ normally sounds much more gruff and less polite, though. It’s often used in anger.

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Corona

  1. 子は鬼滅 夫婦は亀裂 おうち時間

Break out your dictionaries! All the characters are taught here, but the 亀裂(きれつ) jukugo term was a new one for me. The first character in the compound really threw me off! Apparently, () can mean 「うらないに用いた亀の甲」or a turtle shell used for fortune-telling — this seems more likely to fit than an actual tortoise! I suppose it’s also possible it’s just ()().

鬼滅(きめつ) was also unfamiliar but I at least guessed the meaning correctly (though I’d have read it wrong). Apparently, there’s a popular manga that uses the word (鬼滅()(やいば) — Demon Slayer)

Knowing how small many Japanese homes can be, working from home must have been particularly difficult.


Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.

Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level! Questions and comments are as valued as translation submissions.

Please try not to be disappointed if your translation isn’t selected or if you disagree with the daily choice: the judge isn’t terribly consistent with his grading (and has awful taste!).
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源(ごげん)由来(ゆらい)辞典(じてん) is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.

Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.

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It made me think of Foghorn Leghorn :slight_smile:

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I used my grandpa’s speech style and he talks just like Foghorn I’m glad I captured it well :smile:

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That makes so much sense. Hence the hankie in the summer basket.

I asked my Japanese friend about the baggu vs bakku, and she says that woven baskets/hampers are called カゴバック (without the 濁点) and less so 夏バック, even though they are seen usually in summer. (かご(籠) literally is a basket or hamper.)

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Big spoiler/ネタバレ:

Googled “鬼滅 亀裂” and it led me to this video, which pretty much explains the senryu.

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Based on image searches, 夏バック (with or without dakuten) and カゴバック both conjure up images of woven handbags for the most part. Google, at least, seems to search both with and without the dakuten. To confuse things further, カゴパック is something different yet again! It appears バック and バッグ both mean “bag”, while パック comes from “pack”.

I’m not sure, but I think 夏バック (with or without dakuten) might only be a summer handbag, while カゴバック more properly means a wicker basket/hamper but has come to also mean 夏バッグ!

The meaning of the senryu doesn’t really change either way, though: they found the handkerchief when they pulled out an item only used in the summer.

Stereotypical images:

夏バック

Screen Shot 2022-09-06 at 12.18.19 PM

カゴバック

Screen Shot 2022-09-06 at 12.17.32 PM

カゴパック

Screen Shot 2022-09-06 at 12.16.35 PM

I must be slow. I’m not following how that explains the senryu.

亀裂 literally means split, crack. In the video, the kids are dragon slayers pretending to 亀裂 the rock. At home, the parents amuse their kids by pretending to be a rock that gets split apart. In other words, they have their hands full with keeping the kids occupied while (not really) working remotely.

I guess this rock splitting is a significant/well known episode in the manga as I saw another similar video.

Of course, there is a finite probability that I may be completely off course… :wink:

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I’m wondering if there’s a connotation that the stress of parenting during corona is causing the parents previously solid relationship to fracture

In 鬼滅の刃, to pass the first part of his training, the protagonist has to split this enormous boulder in a single strike, i.e., it is a seemingly impossible task.

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