Detarame

Today I will talk about the Japanese word "detarame."

"Detarame" means incoherent, disorganized, or irresponsible things.

This word has been used since the Edo period, and it is thought that this was derived from gambling using dice.

The theory is something like the following:

The literal meaning of "me" of "detarame" is "eyes," and it means the number of spots on dice.

Also, "detarame" is the abbreviation form of "detara sono me," which means "depending on the number of spots on dice."

That is to say, it expresses that you say/do something irresponsible depending on dice.

It can be written as "出鱈目" in kanji, but "鱈" (meaning Pacific cod) is a phonetic equivalent, and fish isn't related to this word.

でたらめ

今日は「でたらめ」という日本語を紹介します。

「でたらめ」は、いい加減なことや、首尾一貫していないことを表す言葉です。

この言葉は江戸時代から使われており、サイコロ賭博に由来すると考えられています。

「め」はサイコロの目を意味し、「でたらめ」は「出たらその（サイコロの）目」の省略というものです。

つまり、サイコロを振って、出た目に従っていい加減な発言や行動をする、ということです。

漢字で書くと「出鱈目」となりますが、これは当て字で、魚の「鱈」は全く関係ありません。