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jmdict 1419210 Active (id: 2298344)
どんぐりの背比べ；ドングリの背比べ；団栗の背比べ；どんぐりの背くらべ [sK]
【どんぐりのせいくらべ】

1.	[exp,n] [id] ▶ having very little difference between one another ▶ being much of a muchness ▶ being more or less the same ▶ [lit] height comparison among acorns
2.	[exp,n] [id] ▶ pointless competition (between two equally unimpressive parties) ▶ pissing contest

History:

18.	A 2024-04-17 18:21:07 Stephen Kraus <...address hidden...>
	Refs:	M-W: "compare apples and/to/with oranges; idiom: to compare things that are very different"
	Diff:	@@ -24 +23,0 @@ -<gloss>comparing apples to oranges</gloss>
17.	A* 2024-04-17 07:37:11 Hicham T <...address hidden...>
	Refs:	https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compare apples and/to/with oranges#:~:text=: to compare things that are,to compare apples with oranges.
	Comments:	comparing apples to oranges would be a perfect translation. Thanks.
	Diff:	@@ -23,0 +24 @@ +<gloss>comparing apples to oranges</gloss>
16.	A 2023-01-22 01:41:36 Robin Scott <...address hidden...>
15.	A* 2023-01-22 00:33:43 Stephen Kraus <...address hidden...>
	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─┴────────┴───────╯
	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>
14.	A 2020-12-02 14:07:36 Marcus Richert <...address hidden...>
(show/hide 13 older log entries)
13.	A* 2020-12-02 14:04:36 Robin Scott <...address hidden...>
	Comments:	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.
	Diff:	@@ -40 +39,0 @@ -<gloss>dick-measuring contest</gloss>
12.	A* 2020-12-02 01:48:35 Marcus Richert <...address hidden...>
	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.
	Comments:	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.
	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>
11.	A* 2020-11-26 19:48:05 Robin Scott <...address hidden...>
	Refs:	https://www.weblio.jp/content/どんぐりの背比べ
	Comments:	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.
	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>
10.	A 2020-11-24 06:49:09 Jim Breen <...address hidden...>
	Comments:	Probably be best.
	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>
9.	A* 2020-11-24 06:27:16 Marcus Richert <...address hidden...>
	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
	Comments:	should this be split into 2 senses? "all seeming about the same" vs "pissing contest"/"bragging competition"
	Diff:	@@ -8,0 +9,3 @@ +</k_ele> +<k_ele> +<keb>どんぐりの背くらべ</keb>
8.	A 2016-07-04 19:28:51 Jim Breen <...address hidden...>
7.	A* 2016-07-04 10:42:06 Johan Råde <...address hidden...>
	Comments:	tidying up
	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>
6.	A* 2016-07-04 09:43:18 Johan Råde <...address hidden...>
	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
	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>
5.	A 2014-12-05 07:34:44 Marcus Richert <...address hidden...>
	Diff:	@@ -14,0 +15 @@ +<misc>&id;</misc>
4.	A 2014-01-05 20:03:35 Rene Malenfant <...address hidden...>
	Comments:	No. Display of [lit], [expl], etc. is not implemented on wwwjdic yet.
3.	A* 2014-01-05 00:49:00
	Comments:	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?
2.	A 2012-06-14 00:07:11 Rene Malenfant <...address hidden...>
1.	A* 2012-06-13 04:18:06 Marcus
	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>

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