Monday, March 3, 2014

Left On The Shelf

It's March 3rd! Do you know what today is? :3



When I was small, my family used to prepare the dolls every spring.
It is said that the girl will get marry later in life if her dolls weren't put away for a long time. So in the past, people prepare the dolls in the end of February, and put them away right after the dolls festival.

My parents always leave them until the April, so I was worrying about my marriage. I complained to my parents, then they said the dolls festival in our city is held on April 3rd. I didn't believe it because I thought they were just lazy, but I found some areas in Japan (especially cold, and snowy areas) celebrate this festival on April 3rd.



Who's this cute girl? Yes! It's me! XD
I'm often told "You WERE cute" by my family. Huh, what do they mean? :(


*Japanese Word of the Day*
ひな人形(にんぎょう)を出(だ)しっぱなしにしたら、婚期(こんき)が遅(おく)れちゃうよ。
/hina-ningyou wo dashippanashi ni shitara, konki ga okure-chau yo/
If you leave the dolls sitting, you'll be left on the shelf.

*ひな人形 is the special dolls for the dolls festival in Japan

*出しっぱなし to leave something as it is after taking it out or turning it on.
服(ふく)を脱(ぬ)ぎっぱなしにする = to leave cloths out after taking them off.
My husband always does, though.
You see, ~っぱなしにする means "to leave something".
出しっぱなし = 出す + ~っぱなしにする
脱ぎっぱなし = 脱ぐ + ~っぱなしにする


*婚期(こんき) literally means "the marriageable age" or "nubility"

Many working ladies are afraid of 婚期を逃(のが)す. (= to miss out on getting married, to be past the marriageable age) So nowadays 婚活(こんかつ) (= marriage hunting activities) are popular in Japan!

Let me explain about these Kanji characters. (こん) of 婚期(こんき) is from 結(けっこん), which means "marriage". And the character (き) of 婚期 express the meaning of "period" or "time".


Do you know the difference between 遅れちゃう and 遅れる?
We often add ~しちゃう to verbs which implies we don't want it happens, or it's not good to happen.

そんなことしたら、私(わたし)泣(な)いちゃう = I will cry if you do like that.
泣いちゃう = 泣く + ~しちゃう


By the way, "left on the shelf" is interesting phrase, isn't it?
I learned it today for the first time.

That's all for today!! Thank you for reading! Bye :D

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