Tzadeck wrote:

医師 is the legally correct term--medical laws use the word 医師.  Likewise, in a newspaper or news program only the word 医師 would be used, and you should do the same when writing formally.

医者 is applied wider than just actual medical practitioners.  You could call an accupuncturist 医者, but not 医師.  A medical license in Japanese is called 医師免許, so someone without a medical license couldn't call themselves a 医師. 

(In the same way, in America and England "nutritionist" isn't a legally protected term, but "dietician" is.  I could publish a book and call myself a 'nutritionist' and it would be A-OK legally, but I couldn't call myself a 'dietician' since I don't have a degree in the field)

That being said, most people use the term 医者 for a doctor when talking casually.

Thanks for the information. That helps a lot.

Betadel wrote:

I'm reading the Kizumonogatari Light Novel and came upon this:

一周半して古い概念

For context the main character is explaining that nowadays, even though everybody knows what it is, a vampire is kind of an old concept. However I don't understand what 一周半して means.

Isn't it just a metaphor?  Google seems to imply that it's not an idiom or anything.  一周 is one revolution, 一周半 is one and a half revolutions.　する just makes it mean 'to do a revolution.'  So, basically, 'It's already gone around one and a half times'--similar to the English expression 'it's already been around the block a few times.' 

Literally, "an old concept, having already gone around a time and a half"

Last edited by Tzadeck (2012 March 21, 1:21 am)

This article talks about why dry ice 'burns' when you touch it.

手で触ろうとして、「やけどするからだめ！」と、しかられたことはありませんか？火のようにあついわけでもないのに、どうして「やけどする」と言われるのでしょう？。

The bold part is what's given me trouble, "even though is not hot like fire". What's わけ doing here?. I read the entry in DOBJG but I am not sure if it's the same thing or I can't find any example that looks similar to the one in this sentence.

In this case, it's probably best to simply treat わけ as meaning 'reason'.
"The reason (that it feels like it burns / is said to burn) is certainly not that it is hot like fire."

わけ is a hard to translate in general, but it does have a strong tendency to parallel 'the reason that' or 'for that reason', at least when referring to general facts or events in the past.

Edit: I think the でも here changes the meaning from 'it's not because it's hot' to 'it's not because it's anything like hot', a sort of negative of お茶でも飲みたいか - instead of でも meaning 'or something like that' because it's negative it's 'nor anything like that' ... but like the tea example, softer than the English translation. (Is there even anything -like- a burning hot temperature other than a burning hot temperature? It's just being extra-inclusive for the sake of emphasis.)

Last edited by SomeCallMeChris (2012 March 21, 11:29 pm)

Hmm, I don't read わけ here as literally "reason"; I think this is the set pattern わけではない ("there's no way X" or just "It's not as if X", "It's not that X", etc.) 

Goo has this:
６ （「わけではない」の形で）否定・断定をやわらげた言い方。「だからといって君が憎い―ではない」「別に反対する―ではない」

My translation would be "It's not as if it's hot like fire, so why do we say 'it burns'?"

turvy君 you're over thinking this.

I think the textbook translation of のに is "even though", but you just gotta get a feel for it.

eg.

食べたかったのに... But wanted to eat [it] (regretful)

It's not really saying "even though I wanted to eat it".

if I had to give you a super literal translation, it'd be something like.
火のようにあついわけでもないのに、どうして「やけどする」と言われるのでしょう？
even though, it's not even the case that it's hot like fire, why is "[you] 'll burn" said?

yudantaiteki wrote:

Hmm, I don't read わけ here as literally "reason"; I think this is the set pattern わけではない ("there's no way X" or just "It's not as if X", "It's not that X", etc.) 

Goo has this:
６ （「わけではない」の形で）否定・断定をやわらげた言い方。「だからといって君が憎い―ではない」「別に反対する―ではない」

My translation would be "It's not as if it's hot like fire, so why do we say 'it burns'?"

That sounds right to me, too. You here this「別に～わけじゃない」pattern a lot when the speaker is correcting someone's mistaken impression. I literally just heard an example 2-minutes ago while watching 相棒.

「右京さんに用事ですか？」
「いやー、別に用事ってわけじゃないんですけどね、まあ、どうしてるかなって思いまして...」

@yudantaiteki That doesn't make any sense to me.

turvy wrote:

@yudantaiteki That doesn't make any sense to me.

Well, it's more of a "feel" than a dictionary entry.  Sentence and phrase connectors are very hard to give exact translations for.  I just can't find a way to use "even though" in a way that sounds good to me in English there. 

I guess if you want you can go with this:
"Even though it's not as if it's hot like fire, why do we say 'it burns'?"

("but" instead of "so" might work also?)

Hmm. Sounds okay to me. Try reversing it:   "Why do we say 'it burns' even though it's not hot like fire?"
       
That has the same "despite the fact that"  meaning as  "It's not hot like fire, so why do we say it burns?" "When" is also used, but is ambiguous.  (Maybe their equivalence isn't apparent to non-native speakers?)   

"食べたかったのに..."  could be "But" or  "Even though" (both conveying disappointment/dismay at the outcome - like if someone had eaten the last piece of cake or something).  "But" is more casual and would sound it bit awkward with "had wanted" I think.)

Fillanzea wrote:

"Men can't breast-feed, so why do they have nipples?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiXp_See_Bs

vix86 wrote:

その間に彼は居なくなっていました。

This card from the Core deck says that 間 is 「かん」 but I'm wondering if 「あいだ」 could just as easily work?

I'd say yes, but I'm curious if anyone has more to say about this (for example, is there a difference in nuance?).  Progressive 和英辞典 has an entry for あいだ that includes a その間 with the same meaning (彼女はその間泣き続けた), but そのあいだ does not have its own entry whereas そのかん does (which includes only one example sentence: その間何もしていなかったのか？).

Personally, I think I actually hear そのあいだ more often, but maybe it's just because I pick it up easier since it's more easily recognizable?

Thanks for the information!

I have heard その間に a lot and I believe that's why I thought it was that, though I think I've heard そのあいだ as well (since my brain is associating it closely with その時).

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Separate question. You can't actually use はくしょん as a verb can you? I mean that'd be like saying in English "He achoo'ed." which is understandable but a little odd to my ear.