by Matthew

Otani speaks again. This time is to answer my question: what does “そこをなんとか” mean:
◎無理、大変、ダメ、とわかっているが、OKしてください！私の希望や願いを受け入れて～
◎「人がたりない時に、三日も休みたいなんて無理だ」『わかってますが、どうかお願いします』
さらにいい解説:
相手からの返事が、無理／ダメなどの時、そう言わずもう一度考えて、とお願いする時のフレーズ
◎10万じゃできないよ。20万はかかる…そこを何とか10万で（お願いします）！
どう？？
Pretty good, I reckon. Would make it something like “pretty pleeease”.

Filed under: Idiom, Otani | 1 Comment

by Matthew

A student of mine was talking about this the other day. He said something about it being a famous story in China. He didn’t elaborate. Does anyone know more? My Google searching was fruitless.
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[UPDATE] So, forgive my inadequate listening skills. It turns out that actually it is:
漁夫
[ぎょふ ] fisherman
And the expression is:
漁夫の利
where 利 [り] is […]

Filed under: Idiom, Questions, Idiom | Post a comment

by Matthew

My student dropped this one in a lesson the other day: 英会話を聞く骨知りたい, said she. こつ? thought I. The bones of listening? No. The knack. “I want to know the knack of understanding what I hear.” I will add some examples later.

Not this Knack
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[UPDATE] the examples I promised.
それには骨がある
There is a knack to it.
骨を知っている
have the knack […]

Filed under: Idiom, Vocabulary (KA) | Post a comment

by Matthew

Yesterday I came across the sentence 慌てる乞食はもらいが少ない。 In doing so, I had to find out how the hell to read 乞食 (こじき） which is a composite of 請う・乞う　（こう - does anyone know if there is a difference in these two kanji? I suspect that 請う is less desperate? Like ask for or request. Whereas 乞う […]

Filed under: Idiom, 1word2kanji, Idiom, Textbooks | 2 Comments