Japanese with anime voice: episode15
Hello, I’m Sachi.
I found a very lovely text on Pinterest the other day, and I’d like to share it with you today! It’s a play on words with numbers.
First, I’ll read the whole thing in a nutshell to see what kind of text it is.
人はシクシクって泣きますよね。ハハハって笑いますよね。４×９＝３６ ８×８＝６４ 答えをたすと、１００になります。人生を１００とすると、悲しいことは３６、嬉しいことは６４で倍近くあります。どんなに号泣（５×９＝４５）しても、半分以下です。人生は、泣いて笑って１００になる』
Since there is multiplication in the text, and it is a play on words, you would not understand the meaning if you just read it out loud normally. In Japanese, when you learn multiplication, you learn it by reading the numbers as if they were a play on words. I think it probably exists in every country. Usually, the Japanese read “ichi kakeru ichi” as “inichi ga ichi”. Something like that has been going on for a long time.
Yon kakeru kyuu = 3 (４×９＝３６) in this sentence is called “shi ku 36”. The “shi” is for 4 and the “ku” is for 9. “Shikshiku” is an Onomatope Japanese word for crying quietly. hachi kakeru hachi = 64 (８×８＝６４) is called “happa 64”. Both “ha” and “pa” stand for 8.
People cry “shikushuku,” “shiku 36” means that out of 100% of life, 36% is sadness. People laugh “hahaha,” “hapa64” means that 64% of life is spent laughing.
The word goukyuu in the last part means to cry a great deal. In life, we sometimes cry a lot in various feelings, whether it is painful, hard, or sad.
The word gokyuu has that meaning and is a play on words with “go:5” and “kyuu:9” from go kakeru kyuu (５×９＝４５).
It means that no matter how much you cry, it is only 45% of your life, and it is nothing compared to a life in which you laugh 65% of the time.
In other words, it means that everyone, no matter who they are, spends more time laughing than anything else in life. What is amazing about the person who came up with this idea is that he/she not only multiplied and played with words, but also realized that if you add the answer to the multiplication, the total is 100! And to add “goukyuu” to it is nothing short of amazing!
I like this kind of positive writing. This episode may have been a bit difficult for you. Please listen to this episode again after you understand the entire content in the English script! I hope you will feel the beauty of these sentences with me! Do you have any wonderful sentences with this kind of wordplay in your country? It doesn’t have to be a sentence, just a wordplay on a word. By all means, please let me know!
