(The increasingly less) Daily senryu thread

Yes, that’s my point. Does that existence of 使う in the word have a strong enough influence on how it’s used to mean that 無駄使い has to involve actively using or using up something? Wasting soap, and spending money on stuff you don’t need clearly both do have that kind of ‘use’ involved. “I left the points on the card and never spent them”, on the other hand, is not an active ‘use’ of anything, it’s not an action at all – so if it’s a workable interpretation of 無駄使い then that means that despite the 使い in the word the usage would have broadened out to allow uses that don’t have that active ‘use’ action. Which is certainly possible, though the dictionary definitions don’t specifically say so.

Ah! Okay, I understand your point now.

I wondered if the “action” here was 貯めること (“saving”) and the humor was from the play on words of 使い vs. 貯めたい (使わない).

1 Like

Hmm, when you put it that way I see what you mean. I guess I’m about 75:25 on that. Oh, well, onwards and upwards to the next senryu :slight_smile:

1 Like

Tuesday, November 1, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. ポイントを 貯めたいばかりに 無駄使い
    ポイントを・ためたいばかりに・むだづかい
    Just for / reward points… / Such a waste

An unusual 2-3-3!

Sorry for prolonging this one but I wanted to explore the nuance of wasting points vs. wasteful accumulation of stuff to get those points. I’m unsure, but I still think there might be a sort of pun around ポイントを使わない being 無駄使い.

This translation leans toward the other interpretation: the purchases (to get points) were the waste (rather than the saving of points).

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Heartfelt (しみじみ編)

  1. セールスマン息子に似ていて断れず

I’m having a weird sense of déjà vu with this one. Didn’t we have something similar?

It seems a bit of a grammar test.


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.

2 Likes

Trying to fit into a 3-5-3:

セールスマンむすこににていてことわれず

Salesman
Looked like my kiddo
Couldn’t say no

I was confused at first by the セールスマン息子 (the salesman’s son?) but I guess a が is dropped セールスマン息子に似ていて. Overall, I think the senryuu is about an older person whose son has already moved away.

6 Likes

Monday, November 14, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. セールスマン息子に似ていて断れず
    セールスマンむすこににていてことわれず
    Salesman / Looked like my kiddo / Couldn’t say no

Apologies for taking so long to post an update! I’ve been quite busy lately.

I’m currently typing this in a Tokyo hotel room. My first time back to Japan in nearly three years! (This is the longest I’ve been away since 1985.)

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Husbands

  1. そのギャグがなぜおもしろいと迫る父

I’m a little confused why this one is in the Husbands category …


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.

Welcome back!

And back to the regular game of find-the-subject! :stuck_out_tongue:

Does 父 do the 迫る or is someone else 迫るing 父?
I looked around for “と迫るPerson” phrase and it seems that Person is usually the subject of 迫る.
So it would mean that the dad is pressing someone to explain why a ギャグ is funny… but then I don’t get why the 川柳 is funny. :sweat_smile:

Maybe it’s usually the Dad who is making ギャグ but when someone else does he pretends to not understand and goes hardball “Why is this funny, explain yourself!” ?

3 Likes

My read is that (ちち) is doing the (せま)るing.

Since it’s in the Husbands category, I’m wondering if the humor is from dad not finding hubby’s “dad joke” funny, or if he’s trying to understand an “in” joke between husband and wife that the wife would rather not have to explain.

4 Likes

Ok this could be way off, but my interpretation was something like someone is asking a guy to explain his joke as a way of getting close to them.
I can’t figure out exactly how I would translate it, but something like, asking a man to explain something is a way to approach someone. Possibly romantically.
Hence the husbands tag

2 Likes

日本へようこそ、レクス様。(でも、東京は別の国じゃん)

そのギャグがなぜおもしろいと迫る父

そのギャグが・なぜおもしろいと・せまるちち

“What’s the
joke?” Pesters
on dad.

  • 2-3-2.
  • Seems like a generation gap kinda thing, a joke that the dad would never understand. Or, perhaps something about the dad not allowing the kids to enjoy the show. Or, maybe something completely different? I shall clarify with the 先生 and report back.
  • Is the author the wife of an overworked サラリーマン who doesn’t get the jokes on TV anymore? That’s one reason why it’d be under the Husband category.
  • Just saw @Arzar33 's question about the humor in this senryuu, which also puzzled me. Perhaps it is the repeated asking of this question by the “out of touch with the current times” dad while interacting with (or listening to) the kids, which makes it look funny. In other words, an 内 joke (“inside joke”) about a clueless dad. Poor 父。
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I just realized the author is 母. 父 here is the husband of the author, not the father. Everyone in the family refers to them as mom and dad, はは and ちち, including themselves.

2 Likes

そうやで!

1 Like

This was also my interpretation! I guess I’ll attempt a translation.

そのギャグがなぜおもしろいとせまるちち

“Why’s that joke
so funny?” Dad
pesters us

3/4/3 (?)
I always find myself wanting to put my translations into 2 lines instead of 3 for some reason. Sometimes my line splits are more arbitary than i would like… lol

Another option:

“Why’s that funny?”
Dad keeps nagging.

4 Likes

Happy Turkey Day for those of you in the US (and a belated one to my Canadian friends).

I’m back home, and should hopefully be back in the swing of things again starting tomorrow.

It may take me a bit to get things started again here though: I’m currently staring at 816 outstanding reviews…

Bear with me!

4 Likes

Welcome back; have a couple of off-the-cuff senryu:

Thanksgiving: / Turkey, family, pile / of reviews
(3/5/3)

感謝祭 飯もレビューも いっぱいある
(5,7,5, no guarantees about naturalness of Japanese :-))

2 Likes

Friday, November 25, 2022


Previous senryu

  1. そのギャグがなぜおもしろいと迫る父
    ボーナスひ・であったころの・つまにあう
    “Why’s that joke / so funny?” Dad / pesters us

It took me a while to realize why this was in the “Husbands” category until I realized that everyone calls him “dad” — including mom (the author). (ちち) here is the author’s husband, not their father (I think).

Current senryu challenge

Volume: Various Settings

  1. サンプルが腐った色のレストラン

Pretty straightforward one here. Looking forward to seeing how folks play with the English!


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.

1 Like

Can really find a funny and vivid English.

But I have a question about the grammar because this seemingly simple sentence threw me for a loop and I want to check If I got it right.

grammatical musing

So I think the meaning is clear: Restaurant where/whose sample are rotten colors. Actually if we put “Restaurant whose sample are rotten colors.” into deepl it give us literally the senryuu, moji for moji !

But then the most straight-forward parsing doesn’t work:
サンプルが腐った色 = the color of rotten sample (サンプル is the subject of 腐った)
[…]色のレストラン : A restaurant with color […]. For example 黄色のレストラン : a yellow restaurant.
So we get “restaurant with color of rotten sample” that doesn’t sound right it’s as if we are talking about the color of the wallpapers or something!

So theory number 2, the の in 色のレストラン is actually a shortcut of the full copula である
サンプルが腐った色であるレストラン
And then the first part is a normal XがYである with X = サンプル and Y = 腐った色. So サンプルが is NOT the subject of 腐った.

If it’s right then I guess we can also do something like サンプルが黄色のレストラン (restaurant whose sample are yellow). I wonder if it’s proper grammar.

2 Likes

It could just be using one of the more figurative definitions of 色, like
4. appearance; air; feeling
“A restaurant where it feels like even the samples are rotten.”

4 Likes

I think it’s still talking about color. Even the plastic sample dishes look “off”.

1 Like

Translation attempt

  1. サンプルが腐った色のレストラン
    (サンプルがくさったいろのレストラン)

Manky dive
Even the menu
Has gone off

5 Likes