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Happy 2008! It feels as if we’re still straddling the new year’s hump. The old year lingers in memory and in effects, while the new one has barely stretched out before us to reveal its form.

On the Effects of the Old Year …

The kanji 出 captures this feeling of having a foot in both worlds, because with the kun-yomi of de(ru), 出 has the following meanings:

(1) to appear; to come forth
(2) to leave, to go away

Together, these meanings produce an intolerable schizophrenic feeling in me. But at this moment in time—and perhaps only in this moment—they can coexist without contradiction; we’re leaving the old year as the new one appears.

With scads of readings and meanings, 出 pops up everywhere. Here, I want to look at it in a limited way, examining expressions in which things come out at us unexpectedly, as from a jack-in-the-box.
 

Things Fly Out of the Body!

We expect certain things to emerge from the body—urine, etc. But we generally don’t conceive of our limbs in that way. And yet that’s the gist of this expression, which strangely enough has financial connotations:

足が出る (ashi ga deru: to exceed the budget)
     leg + to come out

Perhaps this is like not having a leg to stand on after you’ve screwed up the budget. Or you tell your boss that you’ve blown a million, and he says, “Are you pulling my leg?” Or maybe it’s comparable to the “hollow leg” of insatiable drinkers, but in this case the hollow leg is for storing riches. No, a Japanese friend speculates that the metaphorical “legs” here emerge from “trousers” that are too short. The trousers represent a budget; the legs are the actual expenses.

The situation is not always dire when 足 and 出 join forces:

良い出足 (yoi deashi: good start (e.g., good acceleration of a car, sprinter, or racehorse); good turnout of people)
     good + turnout (last 2 chars.: to come out + legs)

Whereas English speakers do a head count at events, maybe the Japanese count legs!

Blood, Sweat, and Tears …

And what happens when the eyes fly out of their sockets?

目が飛び出る (me ga tobideru: eye-popping; staggering)
     eye + to fly + to come out
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