I’d been interpreting this as being about a fight with the neighbor. But another, possibly (probably?) intended interpretation is that it’s about a quarrel within the confines of a house, that will continue noisily until the neighbor throws in the towel (thus deciding the winner).
For once, we get a VERY explicit subject and it still confuses me!
Current senryu challenge
Volume: Husbands
日記には上司の名前君付けで
Oh, what a great poem for Japanese language and customs learners! The kanji is quite easy, though 君付け was new vocabulary for me – it took me a second to understand.
Should be pretty easy to decipher, I think, but one hint if you really need it: ◯君 is a familiar form of address, and not appropriate for someone you should be speaking up to (like your boss).
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 語源由来辞典 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.
I wanted to try a translation that didn’t rely on the reader knowing about Japanese name suffix nuances. The ‘–’ is my nod to the implications of the は in the original. I picked ‘he’ for the pronoun just because this is in the Husbands category.
I thought maybe it was a sign of affection instead, since I’ve only ever heard 君 used affectionately. But it could be infantilizing, so maybe it actually is disrespect?
Also idk if that was vague enough to not need a spoiler…
くん is definitely affectionate and friendly, but, like ちゃん, shouldn’t be used in 目上 situations.
The whole 目上/目下 thing is really nuanced, though. I won’t pretend to understand all the intricacies. It’s particularly fun when talking to a third party and three different relationships are involved.
It’s why they suck their teeth and ponder so long when examining business cards: “Where does this guy stand in the social hierarchy of everyone else who will ever interact with either of us?”
Tricky business…
P.s. I was joking about the business card thing. … Sorta.
No, of course otherwise he does not, that’s a given, right? My question is just whether the author thinks of his boss affectionately or not. Given the affectionate nature of 君 I feel like it’s not a straightforward diss, is all.
Yes, I tend to agree. To me, the humor isn’t about being disrespectful to the boss, it’s more about the diary-writer having insufficient confidence to display that level of familiarity in person.
I wonder why this senryuu is in the 夫編 category and not salaryman.
If keeping a diary is also stereotypically a bit more feminine in Japanese culture, maybe the author having a crush on her boss is more likely? (still not clear why 夫編 then…)
I think almost all of these are from the salaryman-senryu competition. The salaryman category was just the ones that didn’t get put into a distinct category.
I don’t think a 日記 is particularly feminine. Everyone I ever worked with in Japan kept one for business appointments and notes.
I struggled a lot with getting this one done in under the syllable count! Here was my best attempt at a 4-5-4:
on a first-name
basis with my boss
in my journal
Here’s a 5-7-5 that’s a little more direct of a translation:
in my diary,
i refer to my boss with
familiar terms
“Diary” and “familiar” are both very greedy in terms of syllables! I could’ve gone with “journal”, but since I was working with a luxuriant 17 syllables anyway, I thought I might as well make the best use of them. I think “diary” has more of the proper connotation here.
My understanding is that 日記 is daily-log/journal/diary. I think it mostly means personal diary, but I definitely know many salaryman that use the word to refer to their little black book that they carry with them to keep track of things (for their own use: expenses, notes, etc.).
I think 日報 is “daily report” as in a report for someone else.
日記には上司の名前君付けで
にっきには・じょうしのなまえ・くんづけで
on a first-name / basis with my boss / in my journal
I think this version best captures the spirit.
As discussed, this was tricky to translate into English!
Current senryu challenge
Volume: Various settings
なお変になって出てくる美容院
I’m definitely not giving any hints for this one. I think I get the gist, but I’m always confused by なお.
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 語源由来辞典 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.
).
