How to say “It is not fair” in Japanese
When your friends said jokes and nobody laughed at their jokes, what do you usually say in Japanese? Is that 面白くない(That isn’t funny.)? Actually, which is correct. However, we have an identical word for that in Japanese and which really sounds native speakers. Let me introduce how to correctly use it today!
(ギャグなどが)すべる (suberu)
The joke bombs.
すべる is “The joke bombed.” or “The joke left them cold.” which means “Nobody laughed at his/her joke”. This is one of the slangs, however, everybody could use すべる ranging from children to adults. The original meaning of すべる is “Slip” but after the joke bombed, it left them cold -> that makes ice -> ice is slippery. So すべる(slip) has been used as the meaning of “the joke bombed”. すべる(present tense) or すべった(past tense) has been basically used after someone’s joke bombed. One of the famous comedians made this word and spread.
すべる(suberu) is “The joke bombs.” or “The joke leaves them cold.” which means “Nobody laughed at his/her joke”. The basic way to use it “___がすべる”, etc. For instance, “その冗談がすべる。(The joke bomb.)”, etc. Everybody could use すべる as casual and polite such as “すべったね。(The joke bombed.)” as casual “すべりましたね。(The joke bombed.)” as polite. Although an original meaning of すべる is “Slip”, after the joke bombed -> it left them cold -> that makes ice -> ice is slippery. Thus すべる(slip) has been used as the meaning of “the joke bombs”. すべる(present tense) or すべった(past tense) has been basically used after someone’s joke bombed that means “The joke wasn’t funny.”. One of the famous Japanese comedians made this word and spread. Lastly, native speakers usually omit “その冗談が” of “その冗談がすべる。”, so that would be “すべる”.






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