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Use of とる

thesuker

先輩
20 May 2014
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Hi, I'm reading a graded reader and I've come upon the following: 地蔵(じぞう)の頭(あたま)や体(からだ)の雪(ゆき)をとりました。 I checked out とる on an online dictionary (tangorin) and found the following definition: to remove (one's glasses, etc.) —Also written as 脱る.
My question: what is the specific use of とる in this context? To remove things from one's or somebody else's body? To remove things in general from any given thing? Could I say: ここで車をとって下さい?
 
I've never seen 脱る, and even now it doesn't pop up as an option when I type とる into the keyboard. I think its a very specialized, literary use. The とる your text refers to is more like the plain old 取る (take). In this case its closer to wipe away (as in 拭き取る).
取る works for wiping away things, or removing dust, shavings, but its not an exact cognate of "remove". So ここで車をとってください doesn't work. Actually, it doesn't work in English either. Remove your car here...someone might be able to catch the drift, but it sounds odd. Usually we'd say "Move your car", which is what I think the Japanese would say too 車を移動して、車を動かして
 
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