{"id":70276,"date":"2014-08-29T09:27:17","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T09:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/"},"modified":"2014-08-29T09:27:17","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T09:27:17","slug":"japanese-phrases-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/","title":{"rendered":"Cats everywhere &#8211; Japanese phrases, part five"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-two\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Part two<\/a> of our series on Japanese phrases and their literal meanings has already covered the \u2018animal\u2019 theme, but we\u2019re coming back to it to complete the series. As it turns out, there are a lot of things you can say about cats. The Japanese word for cat is \u2018neko\u2019 (\u732b).<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Cats pop up everywhere. Did you know, for example, that \u2018neko ga kao wo arau to ame ga furu\u2019? (\u732b\u304c\u8cb7\u3046\u3092\u6d17\u3046\u3068\u96e8\u304c\u964d\u308b) If a cat washes its face, rain is coming. Funnily enough, there\u2019s no good Japanese equivalent when it\u2019s raining cats and dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>The use of cats in many popular idioms is reflected in its appearance in the Japanese equivalent of anybody and everybody \u2013 or every Tom, Dick and Harry. \u2018Neko mo shakushi mo\u2019 (\u732b\u3082\u6753\u5b50\u3082) literally means \u2018even a cat or a ladle\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Everyone has their own way of speaking, of course. We think \u2018neko no hitai no you na\u2019 (\u732b\u306e\u984d\u306e\u3088\u3046\u306a) would fit in well with the language of estate agents. It\u2019s used to mean \u2018small\u2019, and literally means \u2018like a cat\u2019s forehead\u2019. Because those are pretty small. The phrase \u2018not big enough to swing a cat in\u2019 comes to mind&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, if you want to say that somewhere\u2019s completely deserted you\u2019d use \u2018neko to ippiki inai\u2019 (\u732b\u3068\u4e00\u5339\u5c45\u306a\u3044) \u2013 not even one cat is here.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>When you\u2019re packed to the rafters, you might be so busy that even a cat\u2019s help is appreciated: \u2018neko no te mo karitai\u2019 (\u732b\u306e\u624b\u3082\u501f\u308a\u305f\u3044). Conversely, \u2018neko irazu\u2019 (\u732b\u8981\u3089\u3059) is the common name for rat poison, with the meaning of \u2018no cats needed\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>People who dislike very hot food and drink are said to have a cat\u2019s tongue, \u2018nekojita\u2019 (\u732b\u820c). &nbsp;A \u2018nekoguruma\u2019 &nbsp;(\u732b\u8eca) isn\u2019t a cat car as the name suggests, but a wheelbarrow. Something fickle or changeable is a cat\u2019s eye, \u2018neko no me\u2019 &nbsp;(\u732b\u306e\u76ee).<\/p>\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s far from all. When Japanese people say that curiosity killed the cat, they mean it \u2013 \u2018koukishin neko wo korosu\u2019 (\u597d\u5947\u5fc3\u732b\u3092\u6bba\u3059) is one of the rare direct translations.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s all from me \u2013 but we\u2019ll have another blog series coming soon from one of our other fabulously wordy copywriters. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About us<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Content writing is in our DNA. We\u2019re a copywriting company with a team of expert writers, content strategists and project managers. Get in touch for copywriting services that bring your brand and values to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part two of our series on Japanese phrases and their literal meanings has already covered the \u2018animal\u2019 theme, but we\u2019re coming back to it to complete the series. As it turns out, there are a lot of things you can say about cats. The Japanese word for cat is \u2018neko\u2019 (\u732b). Cats pop up everywhere. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":57116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307,318],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-content-us","category-translation-services-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cats everywhere - Japanese phrases, part five - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cats everywhere - Japanese phrases, part five - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Part two of our series on Japanese phrases and their literal meanings has already covered the \u2018animal\u2019 theme, but we\u2019re coming back to it to complete the series. As it turns out, there are a lot of things you can say about cats. The Japanese word for cat is \u2018neko\u2019 (\u732b). Cats pop up everywhere. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-29T09:27:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stratton-craig-share.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stratton Craig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stratton Craig\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stratton Craig\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\"},\"headline\":\"Cats everywhere &#8211; Japanese phrases, part five\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-29T09:27:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Global content\",\"Translation services\"],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cats everywhere - Japanese phrases, part five - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-29T09:27:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/08\\\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"Photo by Ren\u00e9 DeAnda on Unsplash\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/japanese-phrases-part-five\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cats everywhere &#8211; Japanese phrases, part five\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency\",\"description\":\"Written Communication\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b\",\"name\":\"Stratton Craig\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"us-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Stratton Craig\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.strattoncraig.com\\\/us\\\/insight\\\/author\\\/stratton-craig\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cats everywhere - Japanese phrases, part five - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cats everywhere - Japanese phrases, part five - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","og_description":"Part two of our series on Japanese phrases and their literal meanings has already covered the \u2018animal\u2019 theme, but we\u2019re coming back to it to complete the series. As it turns out, there are a lot of things you can say about cats. The Japanese word for cat is \u2018neko\u2019 (\u732b). Cats pop up everywhere. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/","og_site_name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","article_published_time":"2014-08-29T09:27:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/stratton-craig-share.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Stratton Craig","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stratton Craig","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/"},"author":{"name":"Stratton Craig","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b"},"headline":"Cats everywhere &#8211; Japanese phrases, part five","datePublished":"2014-08-29T09:27:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/"},"wordCount":405,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg","articleSection":["Global content","Translation services"],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/","name":"Cats everywhere - Japanese phrases, part five - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2014-08-29T09:27:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"us-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"us-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/rene-deanda-h3g4d0vIJFk-unsplash-1-1.jpg","width":2000,"height":733,"caption":"Photo by Ren\u00e9 DeAnda on Unsplash"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/japanese-phrases-part-five\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cats everywhere &#8211; Japanese phrases, part five"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/","name":"Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting &amp; Content Strategy Agency","description":"Written Communication","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"us-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/5e1a5300b8954ddf765b2a201f88e90b","name":"Stratton Craig","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"us-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f223aed3fe97fd5e2dc17a9a2aca217e0a922a2671c4026e23049bb6ebfade15?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Stratton Craig"},"url":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/author\/stratton-craig\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}