<entry eid="2298344" stat="A" corpus="jmdict" type="jmdict">
<ent_corp type="jmdict">jmdict</ent_corp>
<ent_seq>1419210</ent_seq>
<k_ele>
<keb>どんぐりの背比べ</keb>
</k_ele>
<k_ele>
<keb>ドングリの背比べ</keb>
</k_ele>
<k_ele>
<keb>団栗の背比べ</keb>
</k_ele>
<k_ele>
<keb>どんぐりの背くらべ</keb>
<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
</k_ele>
<r_ele>
<reb>どんぐりのせいくらべ</reb>
</r_ele>
<sense>
<pos>&exp;</pos>
<pos>&n;</pos>
<misc>&id;</misc>
<gloss>having very little difference between one another</gloss>
<gloss>being much of a muchness</gloss>
<gloss>being more or less the same</gloss>
<gloss g_type="lit">height comparison among acorns</gloss>
</sense>
<sense>
<pos>&exp;</pos>
<pos>&n;</pos>
<misc>&id;</misc>
<gloss>pointless competition (between two equally unimpressive parties)</gloss>
<gloss>pissing contest</gloss>
</sense>
<history>
<audit time="2012-06-13 04:18:06" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Marcus</upd_name>
<upd_diff>@@ -15,1 +15,1 @@
-<gloss>having no outstanding characteristics (lit: height comparison among acorns)</gloss>
+<gloss>having no outstanding characteristics</gloss>
@@ -18,0 +18,1 @@
+<gloss g_type="lit">height comparison among acorns</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2012-06-14 00:07:11" stat="A">
<upd_uid>rene</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Rene Malenfant</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
<audit time="2014-01-05 00:49:00" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_detl>Oh, that's interesting, I was intending to make a general comment about these kinds of idiomatic expressions, suggesting that the literal meaning is marked "literal" and set apart from the idiomatic translations. However, I see in the box above that the literal meaning actually *is* marked "[lit]", yet I don't see anything reflecting that in the displayed entry. Should I?</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2014-01-05 20:03:35" stat="A">
<upd_uid>rene</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Rene Malenfant</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>No. Display of [lit], [expl], etc. is not implemented on wwwjdic yet.</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2014-12-05 07:34:44" stat="A">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_diff>@@ -14,0 +15 @@
+<misc>&id;</misc></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2016-07-04 09:43:18" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>johan</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Johan Råde</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_refs>どんぐりの背比べ 21011
ドングリの背比べ 7131
団栗の背比べ 1312</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -7,0 +8,3 @@
+<keb>ドングリの背比べ</keb>
+</k_ele>
+<k_ele>
@@ -11,0 +15,6 @@
+<re_restr>どんぐりの背比べ</re_restr>
+<re_restr>団栗の背比べ</re_restr>
+</r_ele>
+<r_ele>
+<reb>ドングリのせいくらべ</reb>
+<re_restr>ドングリの背比べ</re_restr>
@@ -14,0 +24 @@
+<pos>&n;</pos>
@@ -17 +27 @@
-<gloss>to all seem about the same</gloss>
+<gloss>all seeming about the same</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2016-07-04 10:42:06" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>johan</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Johan Råde</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>tidying up</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -28 +28,2 @@
-<gloss>bragging competition ("pissing contest") concerning matters of little importance</gloss>
+<gloss>bragging competition concerning matters of little importance</gloss>
+<gloss>pissing contest</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2016-07-04 19:28:51" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
<audit time="2020-11-24 06:27:16" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>should this be split into 2 senses? "all seeming about the same" vs "pissing contest"/"bragging competition"</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>どんぐりの背比べ 21011
ドングリの背比べ 7131
団栗の背比べ 1312
どんぐりの背くらべ 1834</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -8,0 +9,3 @@
+</k_ele>
+<k_ele>
+<keb>どんぐりの背くらべ</keb></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2020-11-24 06:49:09" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Probably be best.</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -30,0 +31,6 @@
+<gloss g_type="lit">height comparison among acorns</gloss>
+</sense>
+<sense>
+<pos>&exp;</pos>
+<pos>&n;</pos>
+<misc>&id;</misc>
@@ -33 +38,0 @@
-<gloss g_type="lit">height comparison among acorns</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2020-11-26 19:48:05" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Robin Scott</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>No mention of comparison in "having no outstanding characteristics".
I don't think the sense 2 glosses are quite right.
Not sure this is really two senses.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A9%E3%82%93%E3%81%90%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AE%E8%83%8C%E6%AF%94%E3%81%B9</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -29,2 +29,3 @@
-<gloss>having no outstanding characteristics</gloss>
-<gloss>all seeming about the same</gloss>
+<gloss>having very little difference between one another</gloss>
+<gloss>being much of a muchness</gloss>
+<gloss>being more or less the same</gloss>
@@ -37,2 +38 @@
-<gloss>bragging competition concerning matters of little importance</gloss>
-<gloss>pissing contest</gloss>
+<gloss>bragging competition in which no side stands out as impressive</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2020-12-02 01:48:35" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>I don't think "bragging" is entirely right, it can but doesn't have to include "bragging".
I agree it's not entirely clear it's 2 senses, but looking at the chujiten examples (sense 1) and use on twitter (which seems to mostly
fall into sense 2), I think it doesn't hurt to divide it up like this. Sometimes the "背比べ" refers to the "acorns" actively competing
with each other (sense 2), but not always.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>I thought "pissing contest" fits sense 2 pretty well?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pissing_contest
"2 A pointless competition, dispute or conflict, often over some trivial matter."
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/pissing+contest (Farlex Dictionary of Idioms)
"A useless or trivial argument, competition, or comparison."
the fact it's usually over something trivial makes me think it's a good idiomatic match.
https://twitter.com/Jitsui_3442/status/1330468081177559040
"三好さんと神永さんの口論って見てて面白いです。どんぐりの背比べって言葉を思い出させてくれますから。"
https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q10100543940
Q:程度の低い争いを表す語句を教えてほしい
A:「どんぐりの背比べ」ですかね？
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/dick-measuring+contest (again Fairlex)
vulgar slang A petty competition among individuals (usually men) who are trying to prove that they are better at something than the
others.</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -38 +38,3 @@
-<gloss>bragging competition in which no side stands out as impressive</gloss>
+<gloss>pointless competition (between two equally unimpressive parties)</gloss>
+<gloss>pissing contest</gloss>
+<gloss>dick-measuring contest</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2020-12-02 14:04:36" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>robin1354</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Robin Scott</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>A felt that "pissing contest" didn't really capture the "equally unimpressive parties" aspect of どんぐりの背比べ. Also, it's kind of vulgar. But I guess it's fine as a second gloss.
I don't think "dick-measuring contest" works because 1) there's no implication that both sides are unimpressive and 2) it's too vulgar.</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -40 +39,0 @@
-<gloss>dick-measuring contest</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2020-12-02 14:07:36" stat="A">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-01-22 00:33:43" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Stephen Kraus</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_refs>Google N-gram Corpus Counts
╭─ーーーーーーーーーー─┬────────┬───────╮
│ どんぐりの背比べ │ 21,011 │ 64.5% │
│ ドングリの背比べ │ 7,131 │ 21.9% │
│ どんぐりの背くらべ │ 1,834 │ 5.6% │ - sK
│ 団栗の背比べ │ 1,312 │ 4.0% │ - (daijr/s, meikyo)
│ どんぐりのせいくらべ │ 1,171 │ 3.6% │
│ ドングリのせいくらべ │ 94 │ 0.3% │ - dropping restrictions
╰─ーーーーーーーーーー─┴────────┴───────╯</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -11 +11 @@
-<keb>どんぐりの背くらべ</keb>
+<keb>団栗の背比べ</keb>
@@ -14 +14,2 @@
-<keb>団栗の背比べ</keb>
+<keb>どんぐりの背くらべ</keb>
+<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
@@ -18,6 +18,0 @@
-<re_restr>どんぐりの背比べ</re_restr>
-<re_restr>団栗の背比べ</re_restr>
-</r_ele>
-<r_ele>
-<reb>ドングリのせいくらべ</reb>
-<re_restr>ドングリの背比べ</re_restr></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-01-22 01:41:36" stat="A">
<upd_uid>robin1354</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Robin Scott</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
<audit time="2024-04-17 07:37:11" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Hicham T</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>comparing apples to oranges would be a perfect translation. Thanks.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compare%20apples%20and%2Fto%2Fwith%20oranges#:~:text=%3A%20to%20compare%20things%20that%20are,to%20compare%20apples%20with%20oranges.</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -23,0 +24 @@
+<gloss>comparing apples to oranges</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2024-04-17 18:21:07" stat="A">
<upd_uid>stephen</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Stephen Kraus</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_refs>M-W: "compare apples and/to/with oranges; idiom: to compare things that are very different"</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -24 +23,0 @@
-<gloss>comparing apples to oranges</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
</history>
</entry>
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