Thursday, June 3, 2010

人待ち顔 (hitomachigao).

The word 人待ち顔, hitomachigao, has been rattling in my head for a few days. It's not only super-fun to say, but also really interesting in its specificity:

  人, hito, a person
 +待つ, matsu, to wait
 +顔, kao, a face
 +する, suru, to do

= 人待ち顔する, hitomachigao suru
doing a person-waiting face, having the air of awaiting someone

あの人待ち顔している人は、だれを待っているんだろうかなぁ?
ano hitomachigao shiteiru hito ha, dare o matteiru n darou ka naa.
That hitomachigao guy over there.... Wonder whom he's waiting for.

A cursory Google turns up more than 10 million instances of "...顔する", including 「こんあ顔している」, making a face like that;「おもしろい顔している」, making an interesting face; and my new favorite, 「シリアスな顔している」, making a SERIOUS face, with serious sounded out in English. (シりアスly, man, don't have a 顔.) More than 43 million instances if I include the particle を.

It's an interesting pattern, if it's a pattern. Can I combine other verbs and nouns in that way? Google turns up no instances of 林檎食べ顔, an apple-eating face.

Google image-searching is a great way to get a sense of connotations. Here's a funny pic I found that seems right on for 人待ち顔. かわいいね。人待ち顔している犬なんだ。

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