他のスレッドで見つけた英語表現について質問するスレ ッド

[retrodisease]

gosh...i am terrible with jokes. if i make them then i am the only that laughs, like an idiot of course. hahaha
i just have a dry sense of humour that's all. hmmmm can i think of any jokes?
crap... umm i had a really good one but i have the memory of a gold fish (like 15 seconds, yeah crappy)

 

[osistlk]

Gold fishes have an average memory of 3 minutes, or so I have been told...

 

[Mycernius]

Goldfish can be trained to follow a simple maze. It is a myth that they have a short memory.

 

[retrodisease]

crap, i guess i lose this one then well then i guess i will have to take responsibilty for my rediculously short memory. but then i could just be takeing way to serioulsy.
guppi maybe?

 

[osistlk]

Well damn... just like mice...

 

[Kyoko_desu]

Hello! I'm here again to inflict suffering to my sensei-tachi.:biggrin:
では、新しい質問がありますので、また、よろしくお願いします。

thread title
Do you feel safe in Japan?
Post #38

There were some there that would slot me for the tennies on my feet.

In my understanding, what the sentence means is:
The area around the greyhound bus station in New Oreleans, which was just eight block away from where Revenant-san was talking to a taxi cab driver, there were some people, very early in the morning, who would do something to him for the tennis shoes he was wearing on his feet.

From the context, at first I thought "slot" there probably means to "steal", "attack" or something like that. However none of my dictionaries has such definitions and they just say the verb "slot" means:

1)細長い穴を作る/細長い穴に入れる (hosonagai ana wo tsukuru/hosonagai ana ni ireru)
２）時間枠に組み入れる(jikanwaku ni kumi ireru)
.....But neither (1) nor (2) seems to work in that context...

So I decided to check the slang dictionary I have bookmarked and it says it's "to drink something quickly" or "to bang/****/shack". But he didn't mention any drink there, there shouldn't be any door to close with a loud sound there, and Revenant-san is a man and no one generally would **** or rape him on the street, right?

So now I'm totally lost. Does anyone know what Revenant-san meant by "slot someone for the tennies on his feet"?

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I've never heard of that expression either, but I think your analysis is pretty much dead-on. I think it means that there there were people there who would do bodily harm to him merely for the shoes he was wearing. In other words, there were people there who would hurt him for no good reason at all because they were just such bad people.

 

[Kyoko_desu]

Phew! I've just found out what the word "dead-on" means, phew! It means 「そのとおり」, right?

Before checking my dictionary, the first part of the word scared me cus it's dead. dead なんていう 怖い響きのある言葉からはじまる言葉だから、「そのとおり」の正反対の「大バカまちがい」みたいな意味かも知れないと思ってびびりました。（笑）

ところで、Revenantさんのプロフをたった今見てみたんだけど、もともとはカナダの人って書いてありました。 だから、今回のslotの使い方は、もしかしたらカナダ特有の英語かもしれませんね。

 

[nice gaijin]

Just reading the sentence, I figured he meant that there were people who looked like they were the type to stab someone for their shoes.

I haven't heard this expression before, but I'm assuming that slot means to stab (ie to make a slot in you with a knife). It almost sounds like prison lingo (like shank, etc)

 

[MrWabu]

Maybe its a typo for "shoot"?

 

[osistlk]

I going with a synonym for shank on this one...

 

[Kyoko_desu]

I see, so it probably means some bodily harm, but not punching or kicking but shanking or stabbing, which will make a slot in your body with a knife.

However, since MrWabu-san, who is from the UK, even suspects that it might be a typo and people from the US say it's not commonly used, it could be a prison lingo or Canadian English, right?

I browsed some prisoner's dictionaries, geez, if you talked to me all with prison lingo, I would have absolutely no clue what you are saying, but I hope I won't end up in prison, especially outside Japan.

Arigatou gozaimashita, Mikawa Ossan, nice gaijin-san, MrWabu-san, and osistlk-san.

 

[Glenn]

Wow, you went to prison dictionaries?! You're really dedicated! And don't worry, if we were talked to in only prison terms we probably wouldn't know what was going on either!

By the way, in this case I think asking Revenant would be the best way to find out what he really meant, as this could even be highly localized usage (i.e., only in a certain part of Canada).

 

[Kyoko_desu]

And don't worry, if we were talked to in only prison terms we probably wouldn't know what was going on either!

Really? I don't know if they have any particular lingo in Japanese prisons or yakuza world that normal people won't be able to understand, but they probably do. I hope I won't need to learn it!

Now I have another question, 今日もよろしくお願いします。

thread title
Catching up

Post #24

OK, someone get me a Japanese bucket, please.

Supervin-san said it after epigene-san's post saying she was glad Mike Cash-san was back. And after this comment of him, she said she was sorry if she was a Mike Cash fan. So I'm assuming this sentence somehow means he was not happy about epigene-san's first comment.

But why he needed a bucket? And what did he mean by a Japanese bucket?

Does anyone know?

 

[ricecake]

So I'm assuming this sentence somehow means he was not happy about epigene-san's first comment.

Hmmm .... Don't read too much into it,Supervin did welcomed Mike Cash back despite earlier squabble on another thread.

 

[ricecake]

OK, someone get me a Japanese bucket, please.


Supervin-san said it after epigene-san's post saying she was glad Mike Cash-san was back.

I've just PM'ed you the answer,there is a proper phrase ( idiom ) for his comment.

 

[MrWabu]

Well I don't know what ricecake put in the PM... so who knows, maybe I have a different answer...

It seems that epigene's comment is *too* nice towards Mike Cash and includes the little rose icon, Supervin has become sick at the thought (that someone could like Mike Cash that much?), and wants to throw up. A bucket is a typical object to be sick into when you can't get to a toilet... And I guess because it is a Japanese forum, it's only appropriate he use a Japanese bucket.

"Fetch me a bucket" is a fairly common phrase used in these sorts of cases when something creeps you out, usually when you observe an action that's *too* "lovey-dovey".

 

[Kyoko_desu]

It seems that epigene's comment is *too* nice towards Mike Cash and includes the little rose icon, Supervin has become sick at the thought (that someone could like Mike Cash that much?), and wants to throw up. A bucket is a typical object to be sick into when you can't get to a toilet... And I guess because it is a Japanese forum, it's only appropriate he use a Japanese bucket.

"Fetch me a bucket" is a fairly common phrase used in these sorts of cases when something creeps you out, usually when you observe an action that's *too* "lovey-dovey".

Oh I understand, so the word "bucket" was associated with "feeling sick/feeling like vomitting". I hope I won't have much chance to use this phrase then.

Thank you very much, MrWabu-san! And ricecake-san, I also would like to thank you for your explanation through the PM. Sensei, arigatou gozaimashita!

 

[Kyoko_desu]

thread title
Japanese and dislexia

Post #4

My English has always been mediocre, C's and D's all through junior high and high school and I'm still learning Japanese.


From the way Thunderthief-san was talking, I could tell C and D are not very good grades on a record card in the US.

In Japan, 5 is usually the best grade point we get, then follows 4, then 3, 2, and the worst is 1 in our report cards, so the average is 3. For example, we say:
「すごいよ、明くんは！またオール５ をとったらしい。」「うわぁ！頭がいいんだね！ 」
"Sugoi yo, Akira-kun ha! Mata ooru go wo totta rashii." "Uwaa! Atama ga iin da ne!"
(Akira-kun is hilarious. I heard he's got straight 5 again." "Wow, he is so smart, isn't he?")

Some elementary schools uses ﾂ≫?ｺﾂ for average, ﾂ?｢ﾂ for worse than an average, and ﾂ? for better than it. And yeah, some high schools grade the students from 1 to 10 and 10 is the best. It all depends on the school, I guess.

I found the expression "straight A" in a dictionary, so in the US, A is the best score you get in your report card? And what is the worst? And what about other countries? How do they rank or grade the students' academic achievements in your country?

Yoroshiku onegaishimas.

 

[ricecake]

American school grading system ranges A to F,A for excellent with F for failing and C for average.

One school I've attended as a kid in the state of Kansas ( Mid-West ) many years ago,the district had E instead of A for excellent ( highest ) grade.

Straight A's honorably give someone a 4.00 GPA ( grade point average = highest score ),that person has much greater access to Ivy League universities in America.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

In some schools in Japan they employ a three point system for certain things like perhaps homework. I don't know how uniformly this is across schools or even within the same one, but under this system, one can receive an A, B, or C. A is exemplary, B is average, and C is failing.

In America, there is a phenomena known as "grade inflating". What this means is that people tend to get better grades than they technically "should". In America, the grading system is as follows:

A: Exemplary
B: Above Average
C: Average
D: Below Average
F: Failing

So an American A is the same as a Japanese A, an American C is the same as a Japanese B, and an American F is the same as a Japanese C. (Yes, I am simplifying a bit.)

Here's the thing: even though "Average" quite literally means that the great majority of people should wind up with that corresponding grade in theory, in practice, the most commonly given grade is probably a B in America. (Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone, I haven't been a student in the public school system in America for quite some time.)

What that means is that a C in America in practice means "below average" and has a negative connotation associated with it, even though it is a perfectly respectable grade in theory. A D has an even greater negative connotation associated with it, as you can imagine.

 

[Kyoko_desu]

Thank you, ricecake-san and Mikawa Ossan for the input.

At first I thought it kinda weird to skip E, but now I understand it's usually A from D plus Failing, and sometimes E for excellent, above A. A bit more complicated than Japanese system, because A, B, C, and D are merely alphabets but E and F are initials of a word.

 

[ricecake]

and sometimes E for excellent, above A.

E for excellent ( best ) grade is an " equivalence " to A aforementioned,not above it.This McKinley School I attended in Kansas,teachers there either marked E or spelled out the word excellent ( never used the alpha A ) for best grade on our report cards and graded school assignments.I can't tell you whether this practice was limited to our city school district or it was implemented statewide.

 

[Kyoko_desu]

E for excellent ( best ) grade is an " equivalence " to A aforementioned,not above it.This McKinley School I attended in Kansas,teachers there either marked E or spelled out the word excellent ( never used the alpha A ) for best grade on our report cards and graded school assignments.

Oh I see, and thanks for the correction, ricecake-san.
Hey! I bet you received lots of E's at school! When I saw your photo, I thought you looked soooo intelligent and, of course, cute too!

 

[osistlk]

Grading scales tend to differ mainly by county... I live in Fairfax County, Virginia and our grading scale for an A is 94-100% versus all the surrounding counties' 90-100% for an A... All other grades are also respectively higher then the other counties...

Just in case your getting the idea that all schools use roughly the same system...