Comments on: Cool Compound – 適当に

By: apple407

apple407 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:08:31 +0000

All above interpretations are quite 適当です。However, the blog author misses a vein of meaning quite expected of a non native. That is that when a boss gives this “適当にやれ.” command, there is this unspoken, “ The effort employed in accomplishing this task will tell me how serious you are about your work!” Of course, each worker must be in tune with the boss to know exactly what 適当 is meant.　

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:40:46 +0000

Nice post on an awesome word. I always think of tekitou as pretty friendly, in the sense of being told 適当でいいよ　− which I take as “don’t fuss over it too much – it’s fine.” This is such a refreshing sentiment in Japan, especially when it starts to feel like fussing over stuff is a national pastime.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:07:19 +0000

Casey from facebook: Doesn’t 適当に basically amount to a less coarse version of 勝手に?

Yeah, good point. 勝手に more specifically addresses the doer’s motive (selfish), whereas 適当に to me seems to speak to the status of the completed action. If that makes sense…

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:11:08 +0000

Yeah, they never seem to explain this one well in class, and dictionaries never do it justice… defining it as “appropriate” gives most people just about the opposite impression of how it’s normally used.

Another word that got me was 気まぐれ, which when you look it up in a dictionary comes up as whimsical or fickle. That’s all find and dandy, until you see a 気まぐれ pizza on the menu. Whimsical pizza, wtf? (PS: in food terms it basically just means mixed, so it’s a mixed pizza with lots of different stuff)

By: Julia

Julia — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:34:45 +0000

At the first company where I worked in Japan, I was given a list of instructions for speaking to clients on the phone. I can’t remember the wording of the entire phrase, but the one that struck me most was about how to answer a demanding client, and it ended 適当にしないでください。
With my textbook Japanese I initially misinterpreted it as “do not act appropriately” but quickly realized that made no sense–what it meant was “don’t just say/promise whatever in order to get them to shut up” and, by extension and in the context of the full list, “if you don’t know something, tell the client you will get back to them and then check with your manager.”

By: Blue Shoe

Blue Shoe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:32:53 +0000

Haha…that’s perfect – I love that definition: \however the fuck you/ I want.\

By: Tweets that mention How to Japonese» Blog Archive » Cool Compound – 適当に -- Topsy.com

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:55:30 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Daniel Morales, leonardo boiko. leonardo boiko said: RT @howtojapanese: Wednesday Post: 適当に = "however the fuck you/I want" http://howtojaponese.com/2009/11/18/cool-compound-tekitouni/ [...]