Daily Bunshou: Backwoods Bloodshed

昨日、畑にカラスが死んでいたから たぶん、ハトがカラスに勝ったのだと思う。
母の愛は、強し？！かな。
でも、すっごく、ローカルな話。

畑（はたけ）- field

死ぬ（しぬ）- to die

昨日（きのう）- yesterday

勝つ（かつ）- to win

思う（おもう）- to think

母の愛（ははのあい）maternal love

強し（つよし）strong

すっごく（＝すごく）very

• The っ shows a more intense degree. Like when we, in English, elongate "very" into "verrrrrry".

ローカル - Japanese English for rural, country, etc.

Translation:

Yesterday, there was a dead crow in a nearby field, and so I think the pigeon might have won. A mother's love is strong, I guess... Anyway, this is a terribly backwoods story!



日本人のために：In English, we have several words to describe places outside the cities which lack sophistication. It's sad that Japanese chose to import "local." Local usually means "from this place," so if you use it when talking about Tokyo, it means city-like, not country-like. Here are some other words for 田舎：

1. backwoods (a backwoods town)
2. the sticks (I live in the sticks)
3. the boonies (I live way out in the boonies)
4. the boondocks (see above)
5. the country (see above)　　...probably the most useful. Instead of saying "It's so local" or "It's so countryside," please say this: "It's really country." Americans will understand you perfectly.