jirai o fumu lit. ‘step on a landmine’
Japanese idiom, casual. To say or do something tactless that embarrasses you or upsets someone.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Japanese speaker.
How do people use 地雷を踏む
?
Casual slang, very common among younger speakers and online. The landmine is a sore subject, so you usually step on someone’s: “彼女の地雷を踏む”. Most often in the past with しまう for the oops feeling: “地雷を踏んでしまった” or, in speech, “地雷踏んじゃった”.
地雷を踏む
in real sentences
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地雷を踏んでしまった。
Jirai o funde shimatta.
I opened Pandora’s box.
Tatoeba, sentence by small_snow, translation by ddnktr, CC BY 2.0 FR
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どうやら彼は、地雷を踏んでしまったらしい。
Dō yara kare wa, jirai o funde shimatta rashii.
Apparently he stepped on a landmine.
Tatoeba, sentence by small_snow, translation by tsp_2, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does 地雷を踏む
come from?
The literal landmine (地雷) is old: Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (via Kotobank) cites it from the encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue (1712). The figurative sense is recent slang. The Daijisen dictionary gives it as “a matter that angers someone if you touch it”, with the example 彼女の地雷を踏む, and English Wiktionary marks that sense informal. I found no date for when it took off.
Mistakes learners make with 地雷を踏む
Using it for any clumsy mistake, like spilling coffee on your boss. The mine is always a sensitive topic or a sore point: you hit a nerve by mentioning someone’s ex, their weight, their failed exam.
Other Japanese idioms like 地雷を踏む
Spot a mistake in 地雷を踏む
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.