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Kaeruga Mieru

 
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:11 pm    Post subject: Kaeruga Mieru Reply with quote

I just purchased a Japanese children's picture book entitled Kaeruga Mieru.
The first word of every sentence is kaeru, meaning "frog" or "frogs,"
and the predicate of every sentence is a verb ending with "-eru."

There are a few verbs which I can't find in the dictionary.

On one page, there is a picture of a frog smoking a pipe.
The caption reads kaeru mo sueru.
On the same page, there is a picture of a baby frog sitting behind an elderly frog, and touching him in the back with a hot stick.
There is a caption reading kaeru ni sueru.

In the dictionary, there are several meanings given for sueru.
I have figured that the second one means "sit down," but I can't find a meaning for the first one.
Could it be a mispronunciation of suru, meaning "to smoke"?

At the end of the book, there is a wedding celebration.
On one page, two frogs sing and play musical instruments while the remaining frogs dance.
The caption reads kaeru wa maeru.

On the next page, all of the wedding guests throw rice at the wedding couple, except for two frogs who are lying on the ground in intoxication.
The caption reads keru mo yoeru.

I can't even find these last two verbs listed.

Can someone help me?
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Are they the lemmings



Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Location: Not here anymore. JongnoGuru was the only thing that kept me here.

PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:27 pm    Post subject: Re: Kaeruga Mieru Reply with quote

tomato wrote:
On one page, there is a picture of a frog smoking a pipe.
The caption reads kaeru mo sueru.

Could it be a mispronunciation of suru, meaning "to smoke"?
Close, but not quite. The verb is su'u, not suru. It can mean to breathe, suck or, in the case of tabako, smoke. Changing the suffix -u to -eru changes the meaning from "smoke" to "can smoke". So kaeru mo sueru means "frogs can smoke, too".


tomato wrote:
On one page, two frogs sing and play musical instruments while the remaining frogs dance.
The caption reads kaeru wa maeru.
Applying the same formula to ma'u as we did to su'u, it becomes ma-eru ("can dance"). Kaeru wa maeru means "frogs can dance".


tomato wrote:
[Two] frogs... are lying on the ground in intoxication.
The caption reads keru mo yoeru.
Same formula. Yo'u ("get drunk") becomes yo'eru ("can get drunk"); so kaeru mo yoeru means "frogs can get drunk, too".
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tomato



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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