kata o otosu lit. ‘to drop one’s shoulders’
Japanese idiom, everyday. To feel low, gloomy or a bit depressed.
Draft Not yet checked by a native Japanese speaker.
How do people use 肩を落とす
?
Everyday Japanese that describes how someone looks when the air goes out of them: after bad news, a lost match, a failed exam. It’s often paired with がっくり or しょんぼり, and since it describes a posture it’s used more about other people (“彼は肩を落とした”) than about yourself. News reports use it all the time for losing teams.
Also said がっくりと肩を落とす, 肩を落とした
肩を落とす
in real sentences
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メアリーは肩を落としてたよ。
Mearī wa kata o otoshiteta yo.
Mary was disappointed.
Tatoeba, sentence by small_snow, translation by AlanF_US, CC BY 2.0 FR
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その知らせを聞いて彼はがっくりと肩を落とした。
Sono shirase o kiite kare wa gakkuri to kata o otoshita.
His shoulders sagged when he heard the news.
Tatoeba, sentence by bunbuku, translation by AlanF_US, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does 肩を落とす
come from?
The phrase just describes the body: when you lose heart, your shoulders drop. Daijisen (via Kotobank) defines it that way, as the shoulders sagging because the strength has gone out of you. The earliest example the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten gives is from Izumi Kyōka’s novel Onna keizu (1907), and nobody claims a more colorful backstory.
Mistakes learners make with 肩を落とす
Using it for a long, low mood. 肩を落とす is the slump right after a let-down; for feeling gloomy for days, 気が滅入る or 落ち込む fits better.
Other Japanese idioms like 肩を落とす
Spot a mistake in 肩を落とす
?
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