February 25 2022 Content Updates

WaniKani Content Updates
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Kanji

購 (30) - added “subscribe” to allow list.

贅 (23) - added せい to reading warning list.

井 (45) - added せい to on’yomi readings.

Vocabulary

空洞 (50) - added “vanity” to block list.

縄張り (38) - updated context sentence.

晩 (15) - updated context sentence.

電話帳 (48) - added “phone book” to allow list.

外す (3) - added “to detach” and “to detach something” to allow list.

過疎 (54) - added “overpopulation” to the block list.

境 (24) - added “border” to allow list.

記述 (24) - added “describe” to allow list.

武士 (24) - added “warrior” to allow list.

気象 (24) - moved “disposition” to allow list and added “climate” to allow list.

交差点 (24) - added “crossroads” to allow list.

本当 (5) - fixed pattern of use labeling for common word combinations with 本当に〜 pattern.

近々 (7) - added “adverb” as a word type.

禁じる (18) - added “to forbid” as alternative meaning and added “adverb” to allow list.

参る (14) - added “to visit” as alternative meaning and updated meaning explanation.

矢印 (28) - added “arrow symbol” as alternative meaning, added “arrow mark” to allow list, updated meaning and reading explanations, and added one context sentence.

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Thank you, Jenny

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Thank you for not adding any new items to my already completed levels. :slight_smile:

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Great job as always! ^>^

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Oh this is good! I couldn’t come up with a better synonym than “arrow”, but this is spot on!

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Hello @TofuguJenny thank you for the update!

I noticed the other day that one of my leeches ( 折角 ) doesn’t really have a context sentence for what is listed as the main meaning (“with trouble”). It has two sentences that go for the “kind” meaning and one that’s like “long awaited” which I guess could in the context it’s in be interpreted as “with trouble”, though I’m not sure. I just found it a little odd. I just thought if the “with trouble” meaning is actually used somewhat more rarely it might be worth switching the main meaning or if it’s the most common, it would be cool if you could add a context sentence for that meaning.

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Full credit for the synonyms goes to @Rrwrex !

I noticed the other day that one of my leeches ( 折角 ) doesn’t really have a context sentence for what is listed as the main meaning (“with trouble”).

折角 is one of those Japanese words that there isn’t one good translation for in English. I’ll have a go at improving it during this week’s updates. :blush:

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Now I feel a little less bad for getting it wromg so often :joy:

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My Japanese is mostly “wromg” (I’m totally stealing that word!) but せっかく comes up in conversation all the time.

Prior to Wanikani, I always translated it in my head as “oof”! WK’s “with trouble” definition seemed an improvement. <laugh>

I’d love to know the etymology. The feeling I get in conversation is that it’s kind of an intensifier for negative outcomes (kind of an “oh, man” or “sheesh” vibe). I wonder if it’s 当て字 or if it somehow derives from a sense of “knocking off the rough edges” or “square peg / round hole”?

More than likely I’m completely off base, but fortunately my wife isn’t around to laugh at me.

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Was the radical 矛 moved? I just leveled up to 21 and it’s showing as already completed…

Screen Shot 2022-02-28 at 22.44.24
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It apparently originated from Chinese from a particular situation that got retold. Apparently there was a guy called 朱雲 who won an argument against another guy called 五鹿 that no one was able to defeat in an argument before, so the people around him started joking about how he managed to break(折) his horns(角). (よくぞ鹿の角を折った). So the expression started to mean something like “expending all your power”, or “incredible difficulty”, from that particular anecdote. At least that’s what the original meaning was according to 折角／せっかく - 語源由来辞典

Like with many expressions, meaning changes over time, but that seems to be the original meaning behind the word and its origin.

There’s some other stuff about another particular etymology for the わざわざ meaning of せっかく, related to a story in a book of someone’s horns getting wet and folding (if I’m reading this correctly), but it doesn’t seem like the author is confident that’s all there is to it.

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Hi @cmoncrab! Yes, the spear radical was moved from level 7 to level 21 on December 2 last year, to bring it up to the same level as its first kanji, 務. :slight_smile:

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Well that site’s getting a bookmark. Thanks!

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I’d like to petition to the mods to add 団子(だんご) to the vocab list on account on their delicious nature and cultural relevance. 明太子(めんたいこ) for the same reasons as well, but also because of the unique reading for 明.

Thanks for coming to my Japanese food lovers tedtalk.

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Thanks for the delicious suggestions @DIO-Berry! I’ve added them to the list for consideration. :grinning::dango:

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Thank you for considering my silly recommendations lol

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