Japanese Idiom 味をしめる Develop a Taste For…
味をしめる – develop a taste for…; to be encouraged by initial success
味をしめる
- to develop a taste for…; to be encouraged by initial success
- A useful example one might hear in a potato chip ad is:
一度味をしめたらやめられない。
If you try it once, you won’t be able to stop. - The “味” means “taste” and “しめる” probably means, “experience” here. Having tasted something really good, a person comes back to it expecting the same tastiness.
- 一度ついたうそがばれなかったので、味をしめた彼はうそばかりついている。
- He told one lie and got away with it. Having developed a taste for it, he lies all the time now.
Vocabulary
- 一度 – once
- ついたうそ – a lie that was told
- ばれなかった – didn’t get caught
- ので – therefore; that being the case; because of
- 彼 – he
- うそ – lie
- ~ばかり – only; always (lying)
- ついている – telling (lies)

