| |
Comments: |
In my Japanese/English university chat group, we were discussing self-monitoring of difficult native-language vocabulary(i.e. "dumbing down" for non-native speaking partners). This term popped into my head as something a Japanese person might think an English speaker wouldn't recognize.
So I asked a whole row of Japanese partners about it(~5 people, one-at-a-time in 1-on-1 chats). Not one of them knew this term *even for turtles*. I showed google image search results(of turtles), which they all examined with rather dumbfounded looks on their faces.
They did know what a 甲羅 was.
Needless to say, they reported that they would be at a complete loss if someone told them that a human-being was doing 甲羅干し.
Based on this experience, I'm going to suggest that this term is not widely known outside of the turtle-appreciating community. In the comparatively rare examples we've seen with 甲羅干し applied to small children or cats/dogs, I suspect the specific commenters had outside experience with pet turtles, or some academic reason for knowing the term.
As ubiquitous as turtles-in-ponds are here, it doesn't seem like people see them and think "甲羅干し".
Based on this unanticipated result, along with my prior difficulty finding people-related examples, I'll renew the suggestion that [rare] on [2] is the safe choice for anyone who might encounter it here. |
| |
Refs: |
甲羅干し 34836
https://context.reverso.net/translation/japanese-english/甲羅干し
Image search to get turtles doing 甲羅干し indoors:
"甲羅干し" ランプ
https://www.allturtles.com/turtle-basking/
While humans may sunbathe as a way of receiving a tan, turtles sunbathe (scientifically known as basking) to regulate their internal body temperature.
Search "beach" you get turtles
"甲羅干し" ビーチ
Search "pool", you get small children at the pool on their bellies
"甲羅干し" プール
Turtles on a rock:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsrmishina/7386744596
"Basking in the sun" 甲羅干し
Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park
Here's a cat doing 甲羅干し:
https://sco-teto.com/blog-entry-1079.html
Many cats, image search:
"甲羅干し" 猫
Many dogs, image search:
"甲羅干し" 犬
Besides "pool" and specific pets, it is very hard to find non-turtle matches:
"甲羅干し" 女の子 Turtles
"甲羅干し" 男の子 Turtles
"甲羅干し" 女生 Turtles
"甲羅干し" 子供 Baby turtles! (a couple of human kids)
"甲羅干し" 赤ちゃん really small turtles (no human babies)
A handful of crocodiles
甲羅干し ワニ
Obviously by analogy, but here's an argument for separate senses as well. ([lit] vs figurative)
https://kotowaza.jitenon.jp/kotowaza/6265.php
うつ伏せになり、日光を背中に浴びること。
ーーー＞背中を甲羅にたとえたことば。 |
| |
Comments: |
My principal issue was that the definition made this look like a human-related activity, when this is 99% a turtle activity.
The "technical" term for the turtle activity is "basking". It need not occur in the sun. (Pet turtles will 甲羅干し in their terrariums under a heat lamp)
Possibly shrinkable to one sense, but the wording in [2] cannot be applied to turtles because:
1. Though turtles kind-of have a belly-analogous part, they do not "lay on their bellies" ("turtle laying on its belly" 0 hits (vs. back)).
2. The pronoun "one" ("on one's belly") does not apply to turtles (or pets-by-the-window, for that matter, which is a separate issue)
3. I think [2] is at-least comparatively rare, while [1] is very common
4. [1] is [lit], [2] is figurative
image/book results with people were more common by pools (a turtle-like habitat) so I edit [2] from beach -> pool
=========== Remainder argues for [rare] and separate senses. I think it is likely to be understood in context, but is probably not-so-commonly *used*.
Here is an adorable cat+turtle pair doing 甲羅干し under a heat-lamp
https://mofutan.net/12309
"甲羅干し" image search are all turtles
Reverso results are *all* turtles.
Yourei has 34 examples. ~25 were turtles, ~8 were people (of various ages, not limited to kids as I note below). 1 was small boats drying by a lake. That seems like a high ratio of people, but there are many books about people, and generally not so many about turtles...
Since twitter isn't searchable, of googles first 20 甲羅干し results:
18 turtles
1 drying of futons: https://twitter.com/kennoguchi0821/status/1289768622231965696?lang=fr
1 beetle posted by a zoo: https://twitter.com/FukuyamaZoo/status/1636526558281363456
0 humans
(I believe the beetle has a 甲羅 and would properly fall under sense [1]...)
The term appears to be well-known for turtles. It appears to be applied by analogy (obviously) to people, and image results suggest it is principally used for little kids by the pool, I imagine as a "cute" expression. (book results had other uses, a girlfriend tanning by a pool was one, and old ojiisan I think was another)
As long as a person or animal is behaving in a turtle-like way (motionless, usually back-up, on a hard surface, in the sun collecting warmth), then 甲羅干し can be applied. (see cats, dogs, children, etc.). Belly-up seems also sometimes-applicable, since the human is fundamentally doing what the turtle is doing (warming themselves in the sun).
Much to my chagrin, 4 children/teens laying face-up by a pool in a manga image:
プールの後、プールサイドで甲羅干ししてる姿が可愛い
https://gomarz.blog.ss-blog.jp/2015-08-06 |
| |
Diff: |
@@ -11,0 +12,6 @@
+<xref type="see" seq="1280310">甲羅・1</xref>
+<gloss>basking (of animals with a shell or carapace, esp. turtles)</gloss>
+</sense>
+<sense>
+<pos>&n;</pos>
+<misc>&rare;</misc>
@@ -13 +19 @@
-<gloss>sunbathing (e.g. on a beach)</gloss>
+<gloss>sunbathing (e.g. by the pool)</gloss> |