Japanese Idiom 木で鼻をくくる Give a Blunt Answer
Japanese Idiom:
木で鼻をくくる – tie your nose with a tree; to give a blunt answer
木で鼻をくくる
- tie your nose with a tree; to give a blunt answer
Have you ever received a curt reply from someone? Did you feel blown off or even hurt by the rudeness?
Then you can say you were given “木で鼻をくくったような答え。”
This idiom is not widely used in Japan anymore, however it is a fun body-part idiom with an interesting history.
- 彼は上司に相談してみたが、木で鼻をくくったような返事だった。
- He reported to his boss but the boss only gave him a blunt answer.
- 彼は — he
- 上司に — to his boss
- 相談してみたが — reported but
- 木で — by tree
- 鼻 — nose
- を — [object marker]
- くくった — tied
- ような — like, as
- 返事 — reply, answer
- だった — was, were
Other info (etymology 語源, more examples, usage notes)
Tie your nose with a tree…
This is used when someone’s curt reply was very cold to you. You’ve already learned that’s what it means, but how can a tree tie your nose? A tree is way too hard… Maybe with softer wood, but it still does not make sense.
This idiom originally was “木で鼻をこくる (rub the nose with a tree).” こくる means to “to rub.” Another rarely used word in modern Japanese. This was misused and changed to くくる. That corruption of こくる started the drift from the original meaning.
It seems when Japanese blew their nose long time ago, because the paper was very expensive, they rubbed their noses with wood. The facial expression looked very blunt from the rough wood fibers. Hence, this idiom came about..
After working in Melbourne, Australia for more than 7 years as a Business Planning Manager for a Japanese manufacturer, Mr. Nagayasu moved back to Osaka and began his own businesses helping the Japanese business world interact with the English speaking world.
Mr. Nagayasu is now a marketing consultant for traditional Japanese craft makers (Excellent Products in Kansai: http://www.epik-mci.com/ ) and a business development manager for overseas businesses (Osaka Business Partner http://osakarep.com/).
