Obsolete Words
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A few days ago, I wrote about "馬鹿息子" in my latest entry. You might not know, but there are some other wired Japanese expressions like "愚息" (gusoku) or "愚妻" (gusai).
They are also typical Japanese humble expressions. Both original meanings are "a silly man's son" and "a silly man's wife", but a son or a wife probably doesn't feel good to hear such an expression. Actually, no wife won't call her husband "愚夫"(gufu) as a meaning of "A silly woman's husband".
If you have a sense and sensibility, you won't be able to use those terms. Nowadays, people rarely use them, so undoubtedly those expressions has already become obsolete.
They are also typical Japanese humble expressions. Both original meanings are "a silly man's son" and "a silly man's wife", but a son or a wife probably doesn't feel good to hear such an expression. Actually, no wife won't call her husband "愚夫"(gufu) as a meaning of "A silly woman's husband".
If you have a sense and sensibility, you won't be able to use those terms. Nowadays, people rarely use them, so undoubtedly those expressions has already become obsolete.
数日前、私は最新のエントリーで「馬鹿息子」について書いた。皆さんは知らないかもしれないが、他にも「愚息」や「愚妻」といった妙な日本語表現がある。
それらも、日本の典型的な謙譲表現だ。本来の意味は「愚かな私の息子」「愚かな私の妻」だと言うが、息子や妻はおそらく、それを聞いていい気持ちはしないだろう。実際「愚かな私の夫」という意味で「愚夫」と呼ぶ妻はいないと思う。
もしあなたが知性と感性を持ち合わせていれば、そういう言い方はできないと思う。最近では、そのような言い方をする人はほとんどいないので、疑いなくそれらは死語になりつつある。
それらも、日本の典型的な謙譲表現だ。本来の意味は「愚かな私の息子」「愚かな私の妻」だと言うが、息子や妻はおそらく、それを聞いていい気持ちはしないだろう。実際「愚かな私の夫」という意味で「愚夫」と呼ぶ妻はいないと思う。
もしあなたが知性と感性を持ち合わせていれば、そういう言い方はできないと思う。最近では、そのような言い方をする人はほとんどいないので、疑いなくそれらは死語になりつつある。
A few days ago, I wrote about "馬鹿息子" in my last entry.
This is a bit weird in English because by logic, this current entry that you're writing in, is your latest entry, not the one that you previously wrote.
In English, we'd say "last entry".
Last entry can mean 最後の or 一番最近の
They originally mean "a silly man's son" and "a silly man's wife", but a son or a wife probably doesn't feel good to hear such an expression.
Actually, no wife would call her husband "愚夫"(gufu) which means "a silly woman's husband".
If you have a sense and sensibility, you won't be able to use those terms.
Nowadays, people rarely use them, so undoubtedly those expressions have already become obsolete.
They originally mean "a man's silly son" and "a man's silly wife", but a son or a wife probably doesn't feel good to hear such an expression.
"A silly man's son" sounds like "馬鹿馬鹿しい男(の息子)", while "a man's silly son" sounds like "(男の)馬鹿馬鹿しい息子". Same goes for the "wife" part.
Actually, no wife would call her husband "愚夫"(gufu), which means "a woman's silly husband".
Glad to talk to you again. Thank you for pointing out. I guess many people hardly understand these strange terms.
ウチの愚妻＝自分の「愚かな妻」であって、「愚かな自分」の（愚かではない）妻ではないと思うよ。
The dictionaries say:
愚息＝自分の息子をへりくだっていう語。
so it's a little bit vague. Thank you for letting me know about the real meanings.
二つの説があって、私が書いた方が有力かも。とにかく両方の説明が載ってると思います。
愚妻＝愚かな夫婦
愚夫＝愚かな夫婦
愚息＝愚かな親子
8)
... but a son or a wife probably doesn't feel good hearing such an expression.
You might not know, but there are some other wired weird Japanese expressions like "愚息" (gusoku) or "愚妻" (gusai).
I don't know if you mean `weird' here, but `wired' sounds unusual to me---I can't tell what it would mean.
If you are a kind, sensitive person, you won't be able to use those terms.
I think that this is closer to 感性 in meaning. "To have sense" in English is basically to be a practical person; whereas "to have sensibility" isn't part of modern English anymore (it died out sometime after Austen).
Also, I sort of feel that overly humbling language---like when people fish for compliments---is a way of showing off how modest you are. And that doesn't seem modest at all to me.
You are right. When you say "sense and sensibility", it's Austen's book title.
Thank you so much for your corrections and nice comment.
>There's a fine line to walk between not showing off and also not hurting people.
Yes, indeed! That's the best. :D