It’s X’mas with Diamor in Osaka! Is it January already? Apologies… (恥)

[Ad Text in Japanese]

おしゃれは、私を照らし出す灯り。

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Let’s get right into the language explanation.

「おしゃれ」 means “fashion”. It can also be used to describe fashionable people.

Like, 「ともこさんはおしゃれですね！」, “Tomoko is very fashionable!”

「照らし出す」

This is a type of compound verb. There is a linguistic name for verbs like this in Japanese… That I cannot recall at the moment. Anyway, there are many verbs like this, especially those that use「出す」, I will introduce others, below.

「照らす」alone means to “light up”, or “illuminate”. In the sense that a flashlight beam would light up a dark corner. 「出す」means, to “out thrust”, “produce”, or “put out”. It can also have a host of other meanings. When combined with other verbs, 「出す」 usually has the “out thrust” type of meaning however. This is easier understood with examples…

You have probably seen the road signs that say 「飛び出し注意」

「飛ぶ」is the verb for “to fly”, or “to jump”.

「注意」is simply “caution” or “warning”.

So from this poster, you can imagine what 「飛び出し」means…

「飛び出す」one of the translations given by ALC as “dash out”. Breen says “jump out” or “rush out”. The key is, that “outward thrust” type of nuance.

A rough translation of this sign would be “Caution for (kids) who may jump out (into the street)!”

Other verbs using 「出す」that come to mind are, 「生み出す」、「泣き出す」、「書き出す」。Notice the form of the verb before 「出す」 is added. Do you know what they mean?

Back to our text, 「おしゃれは、私を照らし出す灯り」

「灯り」Just means “light”. So a literal translation could be…

“Fashion, is the light which lights me up.”

A more natural interpretation would be, “Fashion is the light which makes me shine out.”

So… What… I guess they want to say “Go buy your fashion at DIAMOR!”

- Harvey