letslearn
先輩
- 11 Sep 2013
- 890
- 14
Hi everyone,
i was reading a childrens book called いたずらきかんしゃ （mischevious engine\locomotive)
and in a part of the story the train arrives at a fork in the railroad track. it says.
そのうち，とうとう、線路が二股に分かれているところ に来ました。
eventually at last the engine came to a place where the train line split in two.
the interesting part is the word 二股 futamata. which in english is bifurcation (branching).splitting in two etc..
however in japanese it can also mean two timing or to sit on the fence, playing both sides etc...
I suppose if you look at the kanji it has 二 two and 股 which can be groin or fork of a tree.
I'm sure there are many types of these double meaning words just like English, But this one because of the kanji double crotch is pretty close to double fork so it is easy to see the relationship. I'm sure that there are ones that are totally different to the actual meaning. Can anyone give an example of an interesting play on the kanji of a word?
i was reading a childrens book called いたずらきかんしゃ （mischevious engine\locomotive)
and in a part of the story the train arrives at a fork in the railroad track. it says.
そのうち，とうとう、線路が二股に分かれているところ に来ました。
eventually at last the engine came to a place where the train line split in two.
the interesting part is the word 二股 futamata. which in english is bifurcation (branching).splitting in two etc..
however in japanese it can also mean two timing or to sit on the fence, playing both sides etc...
I suppose if you look at the kanji it has 二 two and 股 which can be groin or fork of a tree.
I'm sure there are many types of these double meaning words just like English, But this one because of the kanji double crotch is pretty close to double fork so it is easy to see the relationship. I'm sure that there are ones that are totally different to the actual meaning. Can anyone give an example of an interesting play on the kanji of a word?
