Vocabulary

to thank

to fall in love

currying favour (favor); brown-nosing; bootlicking; sucking pus from carbuncles and licking hemorrhoids (haemorrhoids)

to find fault (with); to cavil (at); to carp (about); to complain; to pick holes (in)

it is often the originator of problems who kicks up a fuss or complains loudest; the one who smelt it dealt it

there is no use shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted; squeezing your buttocks after you have farted

close adviser; close advisor

to become famous overnight; to burst into fame

to issue a manifesto; to appeal

to chase one's gloom away; to free one's thoughts from melancholy

to happily give away; to be glad (to give, to get rid of)

this impure world (as opposed to the pure land)

to sieve; to sift; to winnow; to separate (wheat from chaff)

to untangle; to untwine

curt; blunt; point-blank

some prefer nettles; there's no accounting for taste; every man to his taste

completely empty (of a residence, etc.); vacant; deserted

Children's Limbo

to favor; to favour; to show favor to; to show favour to; to be partial to; to be a regular customer of

like the young man who tried to walk like the Kantan people, gave up, and forgot how to walk

to be frowned on; to invite frowns of disapproval; to displease (people); to disgust

in the end; after all is said and done

even the prosperous inevitably decay; sic transit gloria mundi; all that's fair must fade

to jump on someone's (verbal) mistake; to trip someone up; to find fault with something someone says

finally; in the end; after all that; eventually; on top of all that

to back down; to back out (of a commitment or plan); to turn back; to withdraw; to retreat

main; principal; chief; leading; important

instead of; in place of; as a substitute for

the Way of the Gods; Shinto; Shintoism

to worry (about); to fuss (over); to be careful (about); to pay attention (to); to take (good) care of

to greet; to call out (to); to start talking (to)

(philosophy of) not rocking the boat; (principle of) letting sleeping dogs lie

to smash to pieces

to manipulate figures to one's advantage; to count wrongly on purpose; to inflate or deflate one's age

to annoy; to irritate; to cause offence; to provoke; to get on someone's nerves

by sheer strength; by brute force

to interrupt (with frivolous remarks, silly jokes, etc.); to butt in; to make teasing remarks

anything and everything; just about everything

in accordance with; pursuant to

win or lose; sink or swim; make or break; all or nothing