Hana wo Oru (鼻を折る - Cropping Someone's Feathers)

Jan 23, 2019 17:52
Hana wo Oru

Continuing from yesterday's post, I would like to talk about an idiom related to nose, 'hana wo oru' (鼻を折る).

'Hana' (鼻) means "nose" and 'oru' (折る) means "to break," so the literal meaning of 'hana wo oru' is "to break one's nose."

Of course, you can use this phrase to mean to break someone's nose physically.

However, it is often used to mean to subdue someone's pride.

People who take pride in something is described as 'hana ga takai' (鼻が高い - literally "one's nose is high").

That is to say, 'hana wo oru' implies that you break someone's high nose.
鼻を折る

昨日に引き続き、今日は「鼻を折る」という慣用句を紹介します。

「鼻」は "nose"、「折る」は "to break" を意味するので、「鼻を折る」の文字どおりの意味は "to break one's nose" となります。

もちろん、この言葉は文字どおり、物理的に誰かの鼻を折ることを意味することもあります。

しかし、実際には「得意がっているものをへこませて、恥をかかせる」ことを意味することが多いです。

得意がっている人は鼻を高くします。

「鼻を折る」とは、その高くなった鼻をへし折るということです。
No. 1 えみ's correction
  • Hana wo Oru (鼻を折る - Cropping Someone's Feathers)
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Continuing from yesterday's post, I would like to talk about an idiom related to nose, 'hana wo oru' (鼻を折る).
  • Continuing from yesterday's post, I would like to talk about an (another) idiom related to noses, 'hana wo oru' (鼻を折る).
  • 'Hana' (鼻) means "nose" and 'oru' (折る) means "to break," so the literal meaning of 'hana wo oru' is "to break one's nose."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Of course, you can use this phrase to mean to break someone's nose physically.
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • However, it is often used to mean to subdue someone's pride.
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • People who take pride in something is described as 'hana ga takai' (鼻が高い - literally "one's nose is high").
  • People who take pride in something is are described as 'hana ga takai' (鼻が高い - literally "one's nose is high").
  • That is to say, 'hana wo oru' implies that you break someone's high nose.
  • That is to say, 'hana wo oru' implies that you break someone's "high nose".
     I would put "high nose" in quotation marks since you're quoting the phrase you mentioned earlier and this phrase isn't used in English in the same way
It's kind of funny to think of the literal meaning of these phrases!
Toru
Thank you so much for the correction!
Yes, idioms are interesting. :)
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