Smells Like Water

December 8, 2008 on 9:36 am | In Culture, Language | | Email This Post


There is an expression in Japanese,「水臭い」(mizu kusai), literally, it means “smells like water”.

You can say, “mizukusai na” when someone who is close to you does something that normally only someone you are not familiar with would do.

For example, if your best friend wins a prize, but never mentions it to you until you find out from someone else. Or maybe your friend got engaged but didn’t tell you for months. That would be pretty mizukusai.

Smells like water? Why?

Even my trusty Casio EX-word dictionary didn’t give me much background information on the origin of this phrase beyond the meaning and example sentences.

Some related phrases are よそよそしい and 他人行儀 (たにんぎょうぎ).

Some Googling lead me to the gogen website entry for mizukusai.

水臭いは、食べ物や飲み物の水分が多く、「味気ない」「まずい」ことを意味する「水くさい」。

そこから比喩的に人に対しても用いられ、愛情の薄いこと、親しい間柄なのによそよそしいことを「水臭い」というようになった。

Basically, this explains that mizukusai can also mean something that tastes bad because it literally has been watered down – such as coffee, or Coke from a fountain machine or something. Then, the expression also came to be used to describe when the relationship of two people has also become thin, “watered down”, and distant.

Here is a youtube video discussing how to express 水臭い in English.

勉強になりました！

- Harvey

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8 Comments »

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  1. Gravatar

    The opposite, where a complete stranger does something to you that normally would only be done to you by a close friend or intimate, is expressed with the phrase 気持ち悪い

    ;).

    Comment by Thomas (babelhut.com) — December 8, 2008 #

  2. Gravatar

    For comparison, the entry from the 大辞林 in my almighty Canon Wordtank reads:

    1)親しい間柄なのに、よそよそしい。「打ち明けてくれないとはー・い」

    2)水分が多くて、まずい。まずっぽい。「ー・い酒」

    3)塩味が薄い。主に、関西での言い方。

    So it doesn’t say directly that (1) comes metaphorically from (2) like the entry you quoted, but you can figure it out by reading between the lines.

    Comment by Bobby — December 8, 2008 #

  3. Gravatar

    Bobby! It’s been a while!

    Comment by harvey — December 8, 2008 #

  4. Gravatar

    It has! What are you up to nowadays?

    I passed the JLPT level 1 last December, and graduated in June. I wavered back and forth between grad school and work too long, and am stuck now trying to find a job. I just wandered over to your Japan employment links. They look like they may be useful. :-D

    Comment by Bobby — December 9, 2008 #

  5. Gravatar

    Hey Bobby, I’m in school again. I can give you more details via facebook or email or something.

    I put those job links up EONS ago, but I think most of the organizations they point to should still exist, so they’re not irrelevant. Hope you find something helpful!

    Congrats on the JLPT 1!

    Comment by harvey — December 9, 2008 #

  6. Gravatar

    Harvey -

    Just got back from another Tokyo month … picked up another gem that happens to be of use here… Barrons Japanese Idioms. Found this one at Kinokunia in Shinjuku.

    Pg 244
    misukusai 水臭い distant unfriendly, too formal
    [ lit. to smell like water ]
    そんな水臭い話し方は止めよう。Let’s stop speaking so formally.

    Wanna see a funny one?

    Pg 74
    hanage o nuku 鼻毛を抜く to fool someone
    [ lit. to pull the hair out of someone's nostrils ]
    彼は人の鼻毛を抜きかねない男だから、気をつけなさい。 Be careful of him; He can dupe anyone.

    Cheers, hope all is well.

    Rich

    Comment by Rich — December 11, 2008 #

  7. Gravatar

    Rich,

    That book sounds great!

    The nostril hair one is awesome. I asked one Japanese person about it, and they weren’t familiar with the phrase, so maybe its not so widely known. It’s great though. We should bring it back!

    Comment by Harvey — December 11, 2008 #

  8. Gravatar

    Hey Harvey, this is interesting for a Japanese Newbie like me. The Chinese have a strong use of “water” in relationships too.

    Examples is the expression “血浓于水”

    Which means blood thicker than water literally. This meas that family relationship at the end of the day is greater than any other relationship.

    or the expressions “感情以便淡如水”

    Which means that a relationship (usually a love relationship) has become as “bland as water”. Kinda implying that it has lost it’s flavor and thus not as intense as before.

    Comment by Dewayne Wan — December 20, 2008 #

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