51–60 of 126 posts
This concept is closely related to the “Two-Minute Rule” proposed by James Clear, of Atomic Habits fame. Showing up consistently, even in small ways, helps build momentum and leads to significant accomplishments over time.
Another phrase I use is: if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly.
I run 12km every day, but some days I don’t get out until the afternoon, like today, and it was 30 degrees C and I could only run 8kms and when I got to the bottom of the hill at the 8km mark I couldn’t run up it and just walked the remaining 4km home.
Imagine if I didn’t even go on the run because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to make it the whole way.
This is my first time encounter with this particular 4-character idiom. As a Chinese person, I'm amazed by my ability to comprehend both the writing and the underlying meaning effortlessly. In China, a similar sentiment is more commonly expressed as 坚持初心 (jiān chí chū xīn). Interestingly, this phrase has gained significance (a buzz world in politics) since Xi came to power a decade ago, that party members should rema…
Sharing some Korean Yojijukugos (originating from China) 위록지마(謂鹿止馬) wii rok ji ma To point at a deer and call it a horse. Used for suck ups who says agrees to things that are clearly not right. 읍참마속(泣斬馬謖) ub cham ma sok To behead Ma Su (name) while crying. In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had to behead his favourite general Ma Su as he wept because Ma Su ignored the given command resulting in losing the…
> 竜頭蛇尾 (ryuutou dabi) "Dragon head, snake tail"
Blizzard's Overwatch team decided that would make a cool family motto for a ninja clan, so it features prominently in the game's launch cinematic and some in-game areas. But they apparently never looked up the meaning, which is basically "starting strong but ending weak", or just "anticlimactic".
I really like this. At some point fairly early in my life, teenage years I think, I decided that it is a fact that anything I commit to myself that I'll do, I will indeed do. I don't recall exactly when or how it happened, but I do know it's something consciously decided was the case. As far as I could tell at the time, it had been true for any "serious" commitments thus far, and it's kind of a comforting feeling tha…
Very nice, I also like the other yojijukugo displayed at the bottom, especially jyuunintoiro. I enjoy (what I perceive as) the subtle wordplay of having two different readings of the same character (ten) in the word, hinting at the sort of "more than one way to skin a cat" theme of the word. Literally, the characters are "ten people ten colors", but the two "tens" are read differently: "jyuu" and "to" respectively, b…
Some that I like: 一石二鳥 (issekinichou ; literally: one stone, two birds ; I'll let you guess the meaning (yes, it's very close to an expression in English)) 自業自得 (jigoujitoku ; reap what you sow) 自作自演 (jisakujien ; self-made self-staged ; for example, used for the act of creating a staged situation and then acting as if it were genuine) 自問自答 (jimonjitou ; answering one's own question) 自暴自棄 (jiboujiki ; self-abandonmen…
自演リプ (jien-ripu)
Literally it's "reply" together with a term for an actor performing a work that they also wrote. And together the phrase is net slang for sock-puppeting.
Very nice, I also like the other yojijukugo displayed at the bottom, especially jyuunintoiro. I enjoy (what I perceive as) the subtle wordplay of having two different readings of the same character (ten) in the word, hinting at the sort of "more than one way to skin a cat" theme of the word. Literally, the characters are "ten people ten colors", but the two "tens" are read differently: "jyuu" and "to" respectively, b…
Some that I like: 一石二鳥 (issekinichou ; literally: one stone, two birds ; I'll let you guess the meaning (yes, it's very close to an expression in English)) 自業自得 (jigoujitoku ; reap what you sow) 自作自演 (jisakujien ; self-made self-staged ; for example, used for the act of creating a staged situation and then acting as if it were genuine) 自問自答 (jimonjitou ; answering one's own question) 自暴自棄 (jiboujiki ; self-abandonmen…
The original meaning was a screenwriter-actor performing the script they wrote, which is a perfectly fine thing to do. It can mean 'sockpuppeting', too, and that other use might be more common nowadays, though.
Sharing some Korean Yojijukugos (originating from China) 위록지마(謂鹿止馬) wii rok ji ma To point at a deer and call it a horse. Used for suck ups who says agrees to things that are clearly not right. 읍참마속(泣斬馬謖) ub cham ma sok To behead Ma Su (name) while crying. In the Romance of Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang had to behead his favourite general Ma Su as he wept because Ma Su ignored the given command resulting in losing the…
Adding a little bit of context to this: This seems to be the same origin as the Japanese word baka: 馬鹿 which means stupid and is the combination of the word Horse（馬） and deer (鹿). It has a quite funny background story[1] from ancient China:
>Zhao Gao was contemplating treason but was afraid the other officials would not heed his commands, so he decided to test them first. He brought a deer and presented it to the Second Emperor but called it a horse. The Second Emperor laughed and said, "Is the chancellor perhaps mistaken, calling a deer a horse?" Then the emperor questioned those around him. Some remained silent, while some, hoping to ingratiate themselves with Zhao Gao, said it was a horse, and others said it was a deer. Zhao Gao secretly arranged for all those who said it was a deer to be brought before the law. Thereafter the officials were all terrified of Zhao Gao.
The English wiki is a bit kind to him, because in the original one it wasn't "put before the law" but killed/executed. So the "fool/stupid" person is not the one that called a deer a horse, but the ones that didn't
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In some sense yojijukugo are the original memes, in that they can be riffed off for humorous purposes. For example, the Japanese idiom for "the strong devour the weak" is 弱肉強食 jakuniku kyuushoku (the meat of the weak is the food of the strong), but you can instead say 焼肉定食 yakuniku teishoku (lit. grilled meat set meal) for laughs, and rakugo comedian Jakusaburo Katsura released an album called 雀肉共食 jakuniku kyuushoku…
I always joke with my wife that my favorite yojijukugo are 問題解決 and 安全第一 which are literally just "problem solving" and "safety first" haha. My favorite actual yojijukugo is 点滴穿石 which water dripping on a stone in the same spot slowly wears it away, which just means if you keep doing what you're doing you will eventually make some noticeable progress in the long run.
Carrying out your original intent is sometimes not possible. It's called whisky dick. But who knows; you might end up having a good conversation instead of your planned run. Turn off whatever app you use to manage yourself. Fuck up sometimes. Refusing to go on a run is just as good as going on one, usually better.