JapanForum.com  


Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
(#1 (permalink))
Old
KyleGoetz's Avatar
KyleGoetz (Offline)
Attorney at Flaw
 
Posts: 2,965
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Texas
What is the Japanese equivalent of "to pull a NAME_OF_PERSON"? - 12-15-2010, 05:50 PM

Is there a Japanese equivalent for the English to pull a NAME_OF_PERSON?

A bit of background for non-native English speakers: There is a phrase in (American?) English, "to pull a [NAME OF PERSON]." It means "to do something that is characteristic of PERSON." Typically it's said jokingly about a mistake someone has made that is frequently made by a certain named person.

For example, suppose my friend John is always tripping over his shoelaces. If Nancy trips over her shoelaces while she, Ralph, and I are hanging out, I might laugh and say "she pulled a John."

I have always used, for example, ジョンをする with my bilingual friends because we organically adopted this translation convention and it makes sense to us as bilingual Japanese/English speakers.

I suppose ジョンのようだ or ジョンに似てるじゃん might be decent translations (at least, they get the meaning across), but I'm wondering if there's a Japanese equivalent for this phrase other than such approximations.
Reply With Quote
(#2 (permalink))
Old
masaegu's Avatar
masaegu (Offline)
永遠の愛
 
Posts: 2,573
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Central Tokyo
12-16-2010, 12:59 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz View Post
Is there a Japanese equivalent for the English to pull a NAME_OF_PERSON?

A bit of background for non-native English speakers: There is a phrase in (American?) English, "to pull a [NAME OF PERSON]." It means "to do something that is characteristic of PERSON." Typically it's said jokingly about a mistake someone has made that is frequently made by a certain named person.

For example, suppose my friend John is always tripping over his shoelaces. If Nancy trips over her shoelaces while she, Ralph, and I are hanging out, I might laugh and say "she pulled a John."

I have always used, for example, ジョンをする with my bilingual friends because we organically adopted this translation convention and it makes sense to us as bilingual Japanese/English speakers.

I suppose ジョンのようだ or ジョンに似てるじゃん might be decent translations (at least, they get the meaning across), but I'm wondering if there's a Japanese equivalent for this phrase other than such approximations.
The closest I can think of would be the slangy word かぶる.

ジョンとかぶってる。
ジョンとかぶってんじゃん!

Neither ジョンのようだ and ジョンに似てるじゃん sounds alive.
ジョンみたいじゃん would work though it sounds too normal and boring.
Reply With Quote
(#3 (permalink))
Old
KyleGoetz's Avatar
KyleGoetz (Offline)
Attorney at Flaw
 
Posts: 2,965
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Texas
12-16-2010, 01:53 AM

Thank you.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




Copyright 2003-2006 Virtual Japan.
SEO by vBSEO 3.0.0 RC6