匙を投げる

sazi o nageru to abandon, to give up in despair

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I was explaining the English idioms to throw a wrench in the works (to throw a spanner in the works in Britain) to my husband this morning when it reminded him of this idiom in Japanese, which I had never heard before. He quickly noted that the Japanese idiom, whose literal meaning would be to toss the spoon, has a completely different meaning. It can be commonly used in two disparate situations: medicine and love affairs. When a doctor has concluded that there are no more viable treatment options for her patient, she tosses the spoon. And when a paramour decides that the relationship is no longer worth pursuing, he tosses the spoon. There are therefore frequently uses in passive voice:

医者に匙を投げられた isya ni sazi o nagerareta, The doctor gave up on me

彼氏に匙を投げられた karesi ni sazi o nagerareta, My boyfriend ended it

謙虚さ

kenkyosa humility, modesty

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This term came up frequently in a conversation I was having, and because I hadn't ever heard it in conversation, I took a note to look it up later. It reiterates a common struggle for interpreters. Japanese, like English, has native words (called 大和言葉, yamato kotoba, in Japanese) as well as words that entered the language from Chinese (introduced by Chinese and Korean monks and diplomats during the latter half of the first millennium, CE). This is akin to words in English based in Saxon roots and words based in Latin and Norman French roots. As a listener, it is almost always faster to comprehend the native word. For Japanese, I think one of the reasons is that you are not struggling to recall the specific characters for the loan word to make sure you know the meaning, given the large number of homophones there are for loan words in Japanese. However, there are times when there is no simple native word or phrase to replace the loan word, and this is one of those cases. Now that I'm aware of how the word is used in a conversational context, however, it will be less of a struggle the next time it comes up.

雲蒸竜変

unzyou ryouhen, and also unzyou ryuuhen
to allow your talents to shine through

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I don't normally like to include four-character aphorisms in this list (although given the lassitude on display by not posting for three years, I don't think I can use the word normally with any justification), but this was inspiring. It literally describes a transformation into a dragon within masses of roiling clouds, but metaphorically it can refer to a leader or hero who, given the opportunity, lets her talents and abilities shine forth.

過疎

kaso
to suffer from a (new or existing) lack of popularity, particularly as a video game

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I had only ever encountered this term in reference to discussions of Japan's rural areas, where it refers to the depopulation that occurs as younger people move away and the older remaining residents gradually pass away. But I encountered it in metaphorical use today, to refer both to video games that never attracted a fanbase to begin with, as well as to video games whose players depart (depopulating the fanbase, as it were) once the game has been played through.

肝に銘じる

kimo ni meiziru
to keep in mind

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Another interesting idiom. Literally, to engrave on the liver.

鼻の下を伸ばす

hana no sita wo nobasu
to leer at, to ogle

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Such an interesting idiom. Literally, to extend the upper lip.

驕り高ぶる

ogoritakaburu
exhibit the braggadocio that stems from success

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I have a calendar that posts hard-to-read kanji every day. Last Saturday, that was 驕傲 (kyougou), whose meaning was glossed as 驕り高ぶること. I had to look that up, and found its meaning. Fascinating.