June 7, 2007

The top three

Our word for the day is sandai, or "the top three". It's kind of an idiomaic grouping of any three things. There are also 一大, 二大, and 四大 etc groupings, but I was informed that yondai is a bit strange and 四天王 (the four heavenly kings) is used in its place. In any case, the pattern repeats infinitely as far as I know, but one must attach this compound to whatever word it is modifying.
Anyways, back to the top three concept. In Japanese baseball, they sometimes say "神様!仏様!~様!" Where the ~ is replaced by an awesome player. You can use this in other contexts to cool effect.

3 comments:

  1. Is it tru that the Japanese absolutely love baseball?

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  2. yup. Even highschool championships are televised.

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  3. What exactly is 仏?

    It's funny, though, I've only heard people use 三大, and never 一大, 二大, and 四大

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