abura o uru lit. ‘to sell oil’
Japanese idiom, everyday. To be very lazy and avoid work.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Japanese speaker.
How do people use 油を売る
?
Everyday Japanese, often a scolding: a boss or parent asks “どこで油を売っていたの?” (where were you selling oil?) when someone took an hour for a ten-minute errand. It’s about slacking off while you’re meant to be working, usually chatting or dawdling, so it’s mostly in the ている/てた form. It’s teasing rather than harsh.
油を売る
in real sentences
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ぶらぶら油を売ってないで、とっとと仕事に戻ったらどうなのさ。
Burabura abura o uttenaide, tottoto shigoto ni modottara dō na no sa.
Quit slacking around and get back to work, will you?
Tatoeba, sentence by KK_kaku_, CC BY 2.0 FR
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どこかで油を売ってるかも。
Dokoka de abura o utteru kamo.
Maybe they’re off somewhere slacking.
Tatoeba, sentence by jan_OkulaJu, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does 油を売る
come from?
Both Daijisen and the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (via Kotobank) give the same explanation: in the Edo period, peddlers selling hair oil went door to door and spent their time chatting with the women they sold to. That’s the dictionaries’ explanation rather than a documented event. The earliest example on record is a senryū in Yanagidaru shūi (1801) that says, roughly, once you drink Edo’s water you want to sell oil.
Mistakes learners make with 油を売る
Taking it literally and using it for a business that sells oil. If you actually sell oil, say 油を販売する; 油を売る on its own will make people think you’re goofing off.
Other Japanese idioms like 油を売る
Spot a mistake in 油を売る
?
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