(The increasingly less) Daily senryu thread

Googling around I found a web page that classified this one under the category of ダイエット which suggests maybe deliberately sneezing is a trick to do up a dress you’re just slightly too big for ?

3 Likes


I think the author might be a little overweight and is trying to prevent the clasp of her skirt from breaking/ripping. :laughing:

Based on the googling I’m going out on a limb and guessing that you all might be a bit skinnier than me.

3 Likes

Oh, yeah, your interpretation is definitely more plausible than mine.

1 Like

Friday, July 15, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. スカートのホックつかんでくしゃみする
    スカートの・ホックつかんで・くしゃみする
    I grab the / clasp of my skirt so / I can sneeze

Notes:

  • :confetti_ball: to @pm215 and @LaVieQ

  • Since to my surprise the meaning wasn’t obvious: The implication is that the author is a little overweight and afraid of the hook/clasp breaking or the skirt ripping.

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Various Settings

  1. 看板にシーフードとあるタコ焼き屋

This makes me hungry (I spent a lot of time in the Osaka area and absolutely love those delicious little balls of molten, doughy goo). Nice to see a level 29 vocabulary word turn up in context (看板).

I’m wondering if the humor is having to clarify that the shop’s octopus is real seafood or if it’s the incongruity (snack stand vs. fishmonger).


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!

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.

かんばんに シーフードとある たこやきや

3-5-3

Signboard reads
“Seafood.” Octopus
dumpling shop.

Poking fun at the pretentiousness of the signboard?

That’s quite imaginative. I tried a couple of pretend sneezes, and the stomach doth recede momentarily. :wink: I need to try the trick on the jeans from my 20’s that I still have. Hope springs eternal and all that. :laughing:

2 Likes

Saturday, July 16, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. 看板にシーフードとあるタコ焼き屋
    かんばんに・シーフードとある・たこやきや
    store sign proclaims / “seafood” but its just / takoyaki

Notes:

  • :confetti_ball: to @LaVieQ

  • I bet you think I’ll give up tinkering with these some day, don’t you? In this case, I just couldn’t deal with translating takoyaki as “octopus dumplings”. Dough balls maybe, but to me dumplings imply a soup or stew. Also, Coq au Vin could correctly be called “chicken with wine” but to me at least it doesn’t conjure up the same imagery.

Current senryu challenge

Volume: School

  1. 平均点下げるのいつも僕の役

Once again, I’m happy to report I could read this without a dictionary and I even think I understand the meaning. At least I don’t think there’s anything beyond the literal meaning.

Hoping to see more attempts a this one! I’ll award more points if you somehow use the word “responsibility” instead of “role” for the last word (six syllables!).


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!

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.

へいきんてん さげるのいつも ぼくのやく

5-7-5
The average grade.
My responsibility:
Lower it. Always.

I thought of using takoyaki as such, but it is an obscure word for English speakers who’ve not been to Japan. Not that “octopus dumpling” immediately helps visualize the thing…

4 Likes

Sunday, July 17, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. 平均点下げるのいつも僕の役
    へいきんてん さげるのいつも ぼくのやく
    The average grade. / My responsibility: / Lower it. Always.

Notes:

  • :confetti_ball: to @LaVieq (shocker! :smile: )

  • Extra points and a relaxation on syllable counts for working in “responsibility”

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Intense

  1. 戦争は行かない人がやりたがり

Yikes.

I’m pretty certain there are similar expressions in English, but I’m failing to come up with one. I never served, but grew up a military brat and know many that have.


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!

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.

せんそうは いかないひとが やりとがり

2-3-2 (やった!)

Those who
seek wars, ain’t
seen one

Warmongers, in a nutshell.

I tried to use “warmongers” but, couldn’t get down to a 2-3-2 with it…

5 Likes

Monday, July 18, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. 戦争は行かない人がやりたがり
    せんそうは・いかないひとが・やりたがり
    Those who / seek wars, ain’t / seen one

Notes:

  • :confetti_ball: to @LaVieQ (thank you!)

  • The literal meaning, of course, is that “those that don’t go to war, are eager to have them” but I like this more poetic interpretation.

  • I corrected a small typo in the reading.

  • I just noticed that I’m a few days behind on updating the spreadsheet. Will take care of it now.

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Various settings

  1. ゲイバーで妻とそっくり酔いがさめ

Well, that’s a setting. :smile:

I’m going to need to research 酔いがさめ.


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!

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.

げいばーで つまとそっくり よいがさめ

Notes:

Looking up 酔いがさめ its full version is 酔いが覚める which means “to sober up”.
DeepL translates the last part to mean “sobering up like a drunkard” which is quite an analogy that I had a hard time understanding, but further looking into it apparently there is a place just before blacking out or being so completely drunk that you become serene? so with that in mind my translation is ,

Translation:

My wife drinks
to sobriety
at the gay bar

its a 4/5/4 but its an attempt!!

3 Likes

Tuesday, July 19, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. ゲイバーで妻とそっくり酔いがさめ
    ゲイバーで・つまとそっくり・よいがさめ
    At a gay bar: / my wife and I both / sobered right up

Notes:

  • :confetti_ball: to @superelf94

  • I think the joke is they didn’t realize it was a gay bar when they first went in.

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Salaryman

  1. レントゲン 今年の思い出 これ一枚

Another easy one to read, yet I’m still puzzling out the meaning. Maybe the joke is an x-ray image itself as a keepsake/rememberance? Or possibly the ticket with your place in line to get scanned.

Like all large companies in Japan, Mitsubishi Electric in Kitaitami (KMELCO) had to provide free annual health exams to their employees. Rather than letting the employees schedule on their own, they had a health day (usually in June, IIRC) where they brought in a small army of healthcare workers and trucks with X-ray machines, etc. Every employee queued up to get their exams. The logistics were impressive stereotypes of Japanese orderliness: blood & urine samples, weight/height checks, blood pressure checks, chest x-ray, etc. IIRC, they eventually realized that forcing everyone to get a chest X-ray once per year just in case they found something was was unwise.


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!

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.

2 Likes

Late submission, but since I toiled over it, it has to be inflicted on y’all… :innocent:

ゲイバーで つまとそっくり よいがさめ

3-5-3

Wife and I,
sobered up quick! In
a gay bar!!

Did the realization that they were the only hetero couple in the bar sober them up そっくり?
「ショックだったですよぉぉぉ!!」
(I felt that “quick” conveys the feeling better than a literal translation of そっくり…)

COMMENT: Hard to believe that being in a gay bar would sober one up, all the more since LGBTQ relationship have a long history in Japan and is legal, even if not vested with all the rights due a man-woman relationship. Maybe because it was just an unusual venue for the couple?

NOTE: Didn’t know that 妻 can be pronounced つま or さい. However, the latter is only used in compounds: 夫妻 (ふさい married couple - sames as ふうふ), 多妻 (たさい polygamy), 良妻 (りょうさい good wife), 悪妻 (あくさい bad wife), and other such words….

2 Likes

Thank you!

I’m learning かな touch typing. That’s my excuse and I’m standing by it. :neutral_face:

1 Like

Agreed, I don’t think it implies any sort of outrage or shock, just surprise that they didn’t realize that it was a gay bar when they walked in (likely because they’d already had a few too many).

2 Likes

れんとげん ことしのおもいで これいちまい

My memory
for this whole year?
This one x-ray

Notes:

I think it’s poking fun at having no pictures of friends or family or fun things you did, just having the x-ray being the only picture you have from this year.

5 Likes

レントゲン きょうねんのおもいで これいちまい

3-5-3

Memento
of this year: just this
one x-ray.

I took これ一枚 to mean “this one picture/photo/x-ray.”

The implication seems to be that the x-ray had quite important ramifications for the writer. So much so that all other 枚 type of objects (writings/pictures/et) are deemed not as memorable.

If my reading is correct, it is quite a poignant 川柳, which is unusual (at least in terms of what I’ve seen so far).

3 Likes

Wednesday, July 20, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. レントゲン 今年の思い出 これ一枚
    レントゲン・きょうねんのおもいで・これいちまい
    This one sheet, / this year’s memento: / an x-ray

Notes:

  • :confetti_ball: to @superelf94 and @LaVieQ

  • I decided to go with as word-for-word of a translation as possible to let the reader interpret the meaning.

  • I’m an optimist. I prefer superelf’s slight less poignant interpretation, and refuse to consider the possibility that the image actually showed anything scary.

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Husbands

  1. 評判の愛妻弁当自作です

I love this one! I don’t think any hints are necessary, but an image search for 愛妻弁当 might be informative.

This one cracked me up


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!

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.

3 Likes

ひょうばんの あいさいべんとう じさくです

My famous
wife-packed lunch box
is self-made

I’m totally cool with changing “lunch box” into “bento” since many people know what a bento is and it’s become international.

This is very fun! also a big fan of the bento that’s mainly rice with くそ written in nori on top

4 Likes

ひょうばんの あいさいべんとう じさくです

4-5-4
Loving wife’s much
admired bento - in
fact, my handwork.

There’s a movie in there somewhere: “Psycho Bento!” Or perhaps a hit song: “Menace in a bento…” :laughing:

Didn’t know that メッセージ弁当 is a real thing!!!

4 Likes