Fun Japanese Vocab: Reckless!

August 23, 2007 on 9:40 pm | In Language | | Email This Post

「暴飲暴食」- “bouinboushoku”

The character 「暴」is used in the verb 「暴れる」which means to “act violently” or “rage” or “struggle”. You know, like if a little kid throws a fit on the floor of the shoe store cause he want the green shoes instead of the blue ones… That’s「暴れてる」. Or if you’re scuba diving for the first time and start freaking out, flailing about recklessly and using up your air too quickly… that’s 「暴れる」.

The 2nd and 4th Kanji here mean “Drink” and “Eat” respectively.

「暴飲暴食」means, “(to) eat and drink excessively.”

Awesome.

The nuance has to do with drinking beer, and eating to the extent that it is unhealthy.

Next time someone asks you if you know any 4-character Kanji compounds, this would be a great one to tell them. I love this language!

- Harvey

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5 Comments »

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  1. Gravatar

    Coolness!

    Comment by Heather Meadows — August 24, 2007 #

  2. Gravatar

    My wife says the “bouin” part refers to alcohol consumption, not to just liquid consumption in general.

    Comment by Joe — August 25, 2007 #

  3. Gravatar

    That’s right Joe! When I said “drink” I was imagining beer, forgot I have to be explicit to get that across on paper. Will edit the post a bit to reflect.

    Comment by harvey — August 25, 2007 #

  4. Gravatar

    So you wouldn’t use it for a guy who drinks too much happoshu?

    Comment by Godzilla — August 27, 2007 #

  5. Gravatar

    Nonono, anything alcoholic is fine! So you’re good with your happosyu Godzilla!

    Comment by harvey — August 27, 2007 #

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