＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・日本語の面白い語源・由来（その８）鹿爪らしい、暮れ残る、猪口才など
1. Shikatsume-rashii (鹿爪らしい)
“Shikatsume-rashii” means “serious and stiff, plausible, and pompous.” “Shikatsume” is an ateji (phonetic equivalent), a phonetic variation of “shikatsuberashii.”
The origin of “shikatsuberashii” is said to be a phonetic variation of the archaic word “shikaritsubeku arashi” (然, aritsubeku, arurashi). “Shikaritsubeku, arurashi” means “that way, that is how it should be, that it seems.”
“Shikatsume-rashii” sounds similar to “shikameru（「顰（しか）める」）” (to frown) or “shikamettsura（「しかめっ面」）” (frowning face), and is easily confused with it. However, “shikameru” comes from “shijikamu” (to shrink back), so the etymology is different.
As an aside, regarding “shikame-tsura（「しかめ面」）” there is the famous portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu, “Shikami-zo” (Frowning Portrait). This is a painting commissioned by Ieyasu, who was utterly defeated and forced to retreat by Takeda Shingen at the Battle of Mikatagahara, so that he would never forget his miserable state.
2. Kurenokoru（The lingering twilight）暮れ残る
“Kurenokoru” refers to the state of light lingering for a while after the sun has set, creating a faint, hazy appearance.
Speaking of “kurenokoru,” I have a very strong impression of Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s haiku: “A runny nose, only the tip of my nose remains in the twilight.”
The Kaientai’s famous song “Okuru Kotoba” (Words to Send Off) contains the phrase “In the light and shadow of the twilight town.” The word “kurenazumu” (暮れ泥む) here refers to a state where the sun is about to set but doesn’t quite get dark.
As an aside, “kurenazumu” is a seasonal word for “spring” in haiku.
3. Chokozai (猪口才)
“Chokozai” (猪口才) refers to someone who is “a little bit talented or clever, but also a bit cheeky or clever. It also describes such a person or behavior.” “Choko” (猪口) is a phonetic equivalent, similar to how “henachoko” (henachoko) is written as “henachoko” (henachoko), and is unrelated to the small sake cup “ochoko” (お猪口).
“Choko” (ちょこ) refers to small, inconspicuous actions, as in “chokochoko” (ちょこちょこ) or “chokomaka” (ちょこまか). “Zai” (才), as the kanji “才” suggests, means “talent.”
In other words, the original meaning of “chokosai” was “a little talent,” which then evolved to mean “pretentious and cheeky,” and came to be used to describe cheeky or clever people.
4. Chokonanto（ちょこなんと）
“Chokonanto” means “small and respectful.”
I think “chokonanto” is a more evocative word than the more curt onomatopoeic words “chokonto” or “chonto.”
The following passage appears in Takeo Arishima’s “The Swallow and the Prince”:
The swallow perched daintily on the prince’s shoulder and recounted to him, as if describing every single thing that had happened in the town: a carriage had just arrived, children were cheering, a beautifully dressed monk had been spotted, a tall warrior was walking by, a poet was cheerfully reciting a celebratory poem, and a group of girls had appeared dancing.
5. To be reduced to nothingness（「烏有（うゆう）に帰す」）
“To return to nothingness” means that something disappears without a trace, especially when it burns up completely. The expression “to return to ashes（「灰燼（かいじん）に帰す」）” has a similar meaning.
Although the kanji character for “crow” (烏) is used, it has absolutely no relation to crows.
“烏有” is read as “izukunzo aran ya,” meaning “how could it possibly exist?” or “it’s completely gone.”
6. Ruby（Furigana）ルビ
“Ruby” refers to typefaces used for phonetic transcriptions, primarily small typefaces of 4-6 points. Sometimes, it simply refers to phonetic transcriptions alone.
Since the Meiji era, in Japan, 7-point typefaces (equivalent to 5.25 points) were used for phonetic transcriptions of 5-point typefaces (equivalent to 10.5 points). Meanwhile, the 5.5-point typeface imported from England was called “ruby,” and since the 7-point typeface (equivalent to 5.25 points) used for kana characters was roughly the same size as “ruby,” it came to be called “ruby,” and the term “ruby” also came to refer to phonetic transcriptions themselves.
In England, typeface sizes were expressed using gemstone names: 4.5 points was called “diamond,” 5.0 points “pearl,” 5.5 points “ruby,” and 6.5 points “emerald.”