日本語の道

そう・な・くらい

普通テニスのガットが切れたときは、ラケットが歪まない（ゆがまない）ようにするためにガットを縦横全て切る。昨日友達のガットが切れてしまったので、ハサミを持ってた俺が切ってあげようと思った。ガットが思ったより硬かったので、「ハサミが駄目になりそうくらい硬い」と言ったら、友達のMさんが「駄目になりそうなくらい」だよと俺の日本語を直してくれた。初めて知った。~そう＋な＋くらい！

Masu Less

One of the things you notice when looking at a Japanese newspaper is that when joining two clauses, often a Ｖます form is used instead of the て form we learn earlier in our studies:

7時に起きて準備をする。

A friend of my encouraged me to write using this form when writing my Japanese diary. Although I had assumed it was a fairly formal way of writing, I was assured that it was fine for my casual diary (then again, this friend prefers ので to から and so on).

In any case, I came across something which I presume could be exception to this rule. That is, verbs like 出ます and 来ます which have only one consanant-vowel pair before ます in their ます form. It would seem unlikely, I told myself, for 出ます to become simply 出 and 来ます to become 来 but I could be wrong. In this case do we need to revert to て form (出て and 来て)?

Tennis Problem

In studying the passive voice, I have learnt that we tend to use the particles 「は」・「が」and 「に」in sentences like:

子供は母にほめられた。

But recently, I have noticed the use of 「を」in place of 「は」or 「が」in some sentences. In a recent diary entry I wrote in Japanese, my friend actually changed my 「が」 in favour of　「を」.

普段、Ｍさんのサーブは安定しているけど、love gameが を二つとられてしまった。

What I'd like to know is when to do this. Is it something to do with the fact that there is another subject in the sentence - Mさん? But I've seen more than one は in a sentences on many occasions.

Let's Pretend

For some time I have known of a way to make 'pretend to' type sentences using ふり:

知らないふりをする。
Pretend not to know.

I've learnt another similar type of phrase which is used for saying things like 'pretend not to have seen/heard':

見なかったことにする。
Pretend not to have seen.

聞かなかったことにする。
Pretend not to have heard.

Oh yes, and Happy Valentine's Day!! Are my days of receiving hand made chocolates and biscuits over?　(>_<)

[As always, feel free to correct any mistakes you see.]

浜崎あゆみ

日本に遊びに行ったときにTokyo Headlineという新聞をとった。昨日あゆみについての記事を読んでみた。

「2005年最後の号を飾る（かざる）のに最もふさわしいのは、やはりこの人、浜崎あゆみしかないだろう。アルバム「MY STORY」で2005年をスタートさせた浜崎は、アリーナツアー、a-nation、4枚のシングルを発表①と、この1年を精力的に過ごしてきた。そして、そこで得たもの、感じたこと、を、彼女は2006年1月1日にリリースされるニューアルバム「（miss) understood」に注ぎ込んだ②のだ。今、浜崎あゆみは何を考え、何を伝えようとしているのか？その答えは、このアルバムに余す（あます）ことなく発表されている。」

これを読んだら下に書いてある質問があった。

①この「と」は何だろう？
②この「のだ」がなくても同じじゃない？

Don't Forget

I just wanted to raise a point about the grammar questions in 1級. Actually, I asked the question I'm about to answer only a month or so ago. The question was,

'How much of an overlap is there in the 1級 and 2級 grammar sections? Are many 2級 grammar points tested on the 1級 paper?'

Finally, after looking at some past papers I can confirm what others have told me - yes, there is a significant overlap. Don't forget to revise your 2級 grammar when taking 1級.

My main before the exam are to revise last year's grammar, taking one reading comprehension I've got left over and to revise the words in my Word Tank.

Anyone panicking yet?? 頑張ろう！

Tsumori

I understand the following sentence:

理解できるようになった。

But I was suprised to hear this sentence:

理解できるようになったつもり。

I presume from the context that it means the same as the first sentence but I wondered whether there was any nuance?

The つもり I have learnt is normally used for 'intention' after having made a decision, e.g. 「あのラケットを買うつもりだ。」.

Actually, I've heard a similarly confusing sentence before. It went like this:

分かってるつもり

Can anyone clear this up for me? Is this new grammar or simply a type of style of speech?

Nuance

ｘ と ｙ に行ったことがない。
ｘ にも ｙ にも行ったことがない。

When I came up with these sentences and asked the difference, my language exchange partner was stumped, but insisted there is a significant difference. Perhaps the も example implies that x & y are only two of many places which haven't been visited yet while xとy does not?

I pointed out that we can use も in situations like the following, although perhaps this is more simple than the above?

お茶が好き＋コーヒーが好き＞お茶も好き、コーヒーも好き。

Almost All

One common mistake Japanese people make when speaking English is with 'almost all'. For example, I often hear things like, 'Almost students study very hard.'

I think it comes from the Japanese word だいたい, which has a slightly different usage - or perhaps because it only requires one word. In English we can use 'most' instead, which might be of more use for Japanese people.

I also get confused with this sometimes when speaking Japanese. Just yesterday I had a conversation about this with my language exchange partner. I asked:

みんなだいたいテニスが好きって正しい日本語？

My language exchange partner said that the だいたい appears to be modifying 好き and not みんな, although people would understand my meaning. So she said that following might be a little clearer:

だいたいみんなテニスが好き。

Or to avoid confusion:

みんなほとんどテニスが好き。

Starbucks Study

Most Japanese people don't know much about Japanese verbs and can't explain how to inflect them. I suppose English speakers are the same with English.

At Starbucks the other day, I met my language exchange partner. The subject of Japanese verbs came up and I found myself explaining what I know about them, and how to inflect them. She seemed quite amazed that such a thing even exisited.

I explained about the 3 groups for verbs which I have been taught, and how depending on the group, the inflections will be different. If I hear a new verb, I naturally (not quite so forced as when I was a beginner) guess the group in order to inflect the verb. However, this isn't always so simple. For example, verbs like 起きる and いる are group II and not group I.

The reason this discussion came up was because of the verb 'to rust', さびる. I guessed it to be group I, hence I thought the past tense was さびった. She corrected me, saying さびた, so I then realised the verb was group II, one of those exceptions you have to remember.

So I asked her, if I told her a new word (verb) in Japanese, would she always produce the right inflections? Surely a Japanese child would come across this problem from time to time? Anyway, she looked a little puzzled, but then again, I don't suppose she'd ever thought about it before.

Make Or Let

「させる」って３級の文法だと思うんだが、日本語は英語と違って、まだまだ分からないときもある。「させる」を習ったのは英語の「make」と「let」と同じ意味だった。それで英語で話すとどちか自然に分かるんだけど日本語ならびみょうだな。例えば：

先生とおしゃべりしてて…
「先生、私の勉強をさせてください」

これがおれが言ったこと。でもその日本人の先生が「let」の意味だと思ったそうだ。おれの意味は「make」だった。つまり、勘違いするときがいっぱいありそうじゃない？

はっきり分かるように言い方とかがあるでしょうか？すごく気になるからだれか教えてください。

In English, we learn the Japanese 'saseru' to mean 'make' or 'let', but as there is only one word for these two English words this can lead to times when I am not sure if what I am trying to say is what is being understood by the listener. Are there any other ways to say this kind of sentence that cuts out the ambiguity, or do the Japanese simply see no real difference between the two concepts?

Beki Beshi

べき as in するべき, something you 'must do'. Recently I learnt the term べし which seems to be used in the same context as べき. Are they essentially the same in terms of usage? Any difference in politeness?

3rd August 2005 Update:
べし is like べき but old style language. Also, people use すべき・すべし for するべき・するべし in conversation, though I'm not sure if they'd be written like this.

Informal Talk

Often in Japan I heard what I would call conversational style grammar, things which often caught me out. Some are used often, and of course, you eventually get used to hearing and even using them. For example the following,

やってはいけねい　>　やっちゃだめ
You must not do that

A couple of other ones which I'd like to memorise I heard again watching anime - I've learnt a lot from anime actually, a useful study aid.

やってみないと分からない　>　やってみなきゃわ分かんない
You don't know until you try

言わないほうがよかった　>　言わなきゃよかった
I shouldn't have said that

Any mistakes?

Recommended

英会話じゃなくて、公立の学校で教えていたので、息子さんにおすすめできません。

I was trying to say something along the lines of:

"I taught at public schools, not conversation schools, so I can't really recommend any good conversation schools for your son."

My friend kindly corrected my Japanese (below). To be honest I don't really understand the difference. Isn't this just the verb form of my noun sentence?

「おすすめできません」は良くない意味ですね。
「not better for you」みたいな意味。
「すすめることができません」がいいかな。

[Update: The 'corrected' Japanese may not be so accurate after all. See comments...]

More Negativity

いつも来られない。。。

Does this mean 'can't always come...' or 'can never come'? Or does it depend? I can't seem to clarify these negative sentences in my mind.

Understanding

Does ぜんぶ分からない mean 'I don't understand at all', or 'I don't understand all of it?' I would've thought the former, but I'm not sure anymore. How do we say each English sentence in Japanese? Am I thinking about this from the wrong angle? I didn't want to use だいたい or ちょっと so...

Adj vs Verb

Near the beginning of studying Japanese I learnt 好き（すき） as a 「な」 adjective - 好きな. This seemed confusing enough as it was but with my poor grammar ability I just accepted it as it was taught.

Then while talking to someone about 'being liked' in English, I realised I couldn't say the same in Japanese. My calligraphy teacher said, 「好かれている」. What about 嫌い（きらい） I enquired, to which the reply was 「嫌われている」. 'So they are verbs?' I say. Yes, 好く（すく） and 嫌う（きらう）.

I wondered why I hadn't learnt this from any of my books until now. Am I the only one who thinks this is confusing?

Extra Twist

I've been wondering about the use of phrases like しあがれ しやがれ (i.e. from する). They appear to be used when people are angry at other people's actions, right? Can this kind of verb change be used with all verbs?

Food Particles

If someone said: ダレンが食べてほしい　then I'd think they wanted me to eat something. But someone said to me ダレンに食べてほしい (I hope I've remembered correctly) and after me raising the point this person claimed that either particle was fine. Any comments?

Me Too

こちらこそ. This kind of phrase is used often when someone thanks you for something and you also want to thank them in return.

Because of my poor eroding English I struggle to translate the dialogue I have with my calligraphy teacher at the end of each lesson. I say thanks and he says 'こちらこそ'. Then he asks me how to say that in English. I only come up with, 'No, thank you' ('you' is bold to show stress). Is there a better way? 'Thank you, too.' just isn't English, is it??

I got into a friend's car and her mother was driving. It was the first time we'e ever met. She said something like (pardon any grammar misses):

ゆうこはいつもお世話（せわ）になっております。
ゆうこがいつもお世話（せわ）になっております。　[Credit to Miyo]

No one has ever actually said this to me before and I couldn't even translate it into meaningful English. Sometimes we learn language and when to use it, we even feel some of the emotions that go with those words and yet we've never translated them into our own languages. That's interesting.

I looked at my friend for help. She said 'こちらこそ'. Ah, I think and reply to my friend's mother.

Turning

What's the right particle for 曲がる (まがる)? I always thought it was 'で' but was always confused about whether 'を' was applicable. It turns out that either seems to be fine:

そこを右へ曲がってください。
そこで右へ曲がってください。

[Correct me if I'm wrong.]

Grammar 50

Still over 50 grammar points remaining to type out... am I wasting precious time? Probably, but once I start something I don't like to finish half-way through.

That reminds me, what was that example? Something like:

やりぬく気持ちで最後までがんばる！

Grammar Review

As I don't remember the grammar I am supposed to remember for the test, yesterday I came up with an ambitious plan - considering the time remaining.

I've started the arduous process of typing out each and every grammar point from my JLPT grammar preparation book. This means writing the target grammar, English key words and an example or two.

Perhaps I should have thought it through a little... there are around 200 points. However, I aim to battle through it and finish by Sunday. So far I have found this process useful as it forces me to go through each point again including the examples.

Unfortunately I don't think I can share this text file online. For one thing it probably has many mistakes and for another it uses a lot of copyrighted examples from my text books.

2-Kyu Grammar

The book I use to study 2級 grammar from is called JLPT 実力アップ! 文法編 2級 (松本 節子, 星野 恵子). As the JLPT (日本語能力試験) is but a couple of short months away, I've started working from this book. When I first opened it I was a little overwhelmed by the 191 grammar points.

However, after looking in the table of contents I was heartened a little. The main reason for this was that much of the grammar I'd picked up since the last exam, mainly just through living in Japan rather than actually studying, was detailed in this book. It's great when you discovery grammar for yourself and then formalise it later with a book.

Another reason I was happy was that many grammar points that I didn't understand but that I had heard on a daily basis were all laid out and ready to be understood.

That being said, the vast majority of the grammar in the book is new to me. I'm going to describe my way of learning 2級 grammar from this book and other sources. Whether I'll be successful or not still remains to be seen.

Starting Points

As my book has grammar points labelled from 1-191 in あいうえお order, it might be tempting to just attempt each grammar point in order. This has the advantage that you can do the practice questions at the end of each section of 20 or so grammar points.

However, in earlier sections of the book the answer can be too obvious due the fact that the answers will always be grammar points covered before the page you are on. In other words you can eleminate all of the multiple choice grammar points which you've never seen before that come up later in the book.

Also, many of these bogus answers are often similar in meaning to the real answer. This means that if you've studied the whole book, the questions will be of more use to you because you really have to know the meaning of each point.

One advantage of studying the points in order is that you would have a good idea of how far you are through the book.

However, this kind of method is a bit monotonous and would seriously get too boring too quickly. So my first stage was to look in the contents to find the grammar I mentioned above, to reiterate, grammar which:

①I was already on my way to understanding &
②grammar I wanted to learn.

Concentrating on type ① grammar builds confidence while type ② grammar is easier to learn because motivation is high.

Multi-Reading

Browsing some Japanese I found something which I guessed must be new grammar: 「じょうずく」. First, what I do know that seemed related is how to make adverbs. For な-adjectives: simply add に…

じょうず　to be good at something
じょうずに to something well

For i-adjectives to make an adverb we loose an 'い' and add 'く':

はやい (quick)　＞　はやく (quickly)

So, this 'new grammar' looked like じょうずに but formed a little as though じょうず was an i-adjective. The answer to the riddle was kanji. My studies told me that the kanji for じょうず was 上手 and hence I read 上手く as じょうずく. However,　上手く is actually read as 「うまく」！

I'd never asked myself what the kanji for うまく was. Though it makes sense now I'd still like to know why this jyukugo has two readings and why there is both a semi i-adjective style adverb and な-adjective style adverb for the same word!

Ending Things

A small obversation I've made is that sometimes sentences, even in formal situations, don't use the standard ～ます verb ending which we all learn as beginners of Japanese.

For the verb ある, we have the ～ます form あります. But it seems we can also use ～あるのです to end the sentence.

What is the difference between these two patterns? Is there any nuance between these two verb endings?

'More' Grammar

In the last post we saw the following example:

社会人である以上、自分の行動に責任を持たなければならない。

I was jumping ahead a little. What is the meaning of 以上 (3) here? This is today's second grammar point of note.

以上 can be used to mean 'As long as,' 'Since A is true, then B is also true,' or perhaps, 'Not just A, but B'. These are possible meanings I've discerned from reading various example sentences. Try to translate the following sentence:

試験を受ける以上は、合格できるようにがんばろう。

New です Word

Today's main grammar point is である. Now, I've recently started studying again and have seen this come up several times.

The answer is that である is basically the same as です. It is often used in formal writing, e.g. in a thesis or book.

である can be used in the middle of a sentence in a conjunction like で from です. For example, combining with yesterday's point (I think),

～重要なことであり、これにより人間～

In another example, である comes near the beginning of a sentence:

社会人である以上、自分の行動に責任を持たなければならない。

Here, である joins 社会人 with 以上（いじょう） to describe the responsibilities of being a good member of society. So, the meaning of this is something like 'As a good member of society...' or more simply, 'Because one is a good member of society...' In essense, 'because'.

Note that in the previous example です can not be used.

This brings us to today's second grammar point of note: 以上 (3) can be used to mean 'As long as,' 'Since A, then B is also true,' or perhaps, 'not just A, but B' - at least these are possible meanings I've become to understand from reading examples. Try to translate the following sentence:

試験を受ける以上は、とにかく合格できるようにがんばろう。

No 'Te' Form

Somewhat foolishly I bought a Japanese book way above my Japanese ability. However, just by jumping in at the deep end with my new Wordtank at the ready, I was able to get through the first few sections of the first chapter and noticed a few things.

Whereas the standard way (as I learnt it) to connect clauses is to use the ～て form of verbs, in formal books the ます form without adding the ます after is often used. For example,

～唇がやや丸くなり、前の方に～

～空気を吸っており、それによって体内～

Hint: the first kanji is くちびる, or lips!

Compare Verbs

英語は日本語よりかんたんです。
English is easier than Japanese

This is all well and good but I've thought of a new sentence I want to say: I understand English better than Japanese. Can we use the same grammar structure but replace the adjective (かんたん) with a verb (わかる)?

英語は日本語よりわかる。

Something tells me this just isn't right! Am I missing the obvious answer? I will find out.

Update: やはり、だめだ！This grammar doesn't seem to be applicable to verbs. When I asked a Japanese person he corrected my sentence as follows:

英語は日本語より分かりやすい。
English is easier to understand than Japanese

Natural Te Form

食べていいよ (たべていいよ)　　-　　you may eat...

This is one of the first uses of the te (て) form that we learn as Japanese language students. When you come to Japan you will notice that everyone seems to often add an extra て to these types of sentences:

食べてていいよ

I am assuming the extra て comes from いて but in a shortened form, but this might not be correct.

In any case, after asking some questions it seems that though the two sentences above technically have the same meaning, the second implies that 'I am not going to eat yet...', that there may be some length of time involved, 'go ahead and eat,' and so on.

In the same way, while 持って (もって) means 'please hold (this)', 持ってて implies 'please hold (this)... for a while'.

Compare ~ より

Normally comparative sentences in Japanese look something like:

このペンはそのペンより長いです。
このペンのほうがそのペンより長いです。
This pen is longer than that pen.

Today I tried to use this sentence:

あの人はきれいよりかわいい…
That person is more beautiful than cute.

It occured to me that using two adjectives like this might not be correct, so I checked. I was told that a natural way to say this in Japanese is something like:

あの人はきれいというよりかわいい…

V.dict+な

The negative command form of a verb in Japanese (imperative?), for example, 'Don't talk!' is formed using the dictionary form of a verb, V.dict and adding 'な'. In the previous example, this would be:

話すな　（はなすな）

Other examples:

行くな (いく)	Don't go!
来るな (くる)	Don't come (nearer etc...)!
食べるな (たべる)	Don't eat!
走るな （はしる)	Don't run!

This is a very strong way of speaking, i.e. fighting talk, giving commands and so on... in other words, to be used with caution. However, as with many things, this rule is not set in stone. Depending on the situation and tone of the speaker, this form can be used in different ways. For example:

…泣くなよ… Don't cry...

In this example the speaker is being reassuring and comforting the person who is crying. Today I heard this type of usage and tone for the first time.

〜ませ

Do you know the Japanese form 'mase?' (～ませ） For example:

ご自由におすわり下さいませ
ごじゆうに おすわり くださいませ

This means, 'You may freely use this seat.' This type of language is very polite keigo (けいご). There are many ways to say 'please sit down':

すわって　　　　　　　　　friendly - probably from...
すわってください　　　　polite - V.て-form＋ください
おすわりください　　　　v. polite - お＋V.ます-form＋ください
おすわりくださいませ　v.v. polite?

So where does くださいませ go on the scale. Well, in general, longer means more polite, so I am guessing it's more polite than, or at least equivalent to おすわりください. Is ～ませ just a super polite verb ending. I think it must be, seeing as it is used in expressions like:

いらっしゃいませ　　　welcome
ごらんくださいませ　　please look

忘れた

The difference in 1) forgot to do something and 2) forgot that something had been done.

1. 私は窓を閉めるのを忘れた。
I forgot to close the window, right?

How do I say that I forgot that I'd closed the window? In other words, 私は窓を閉めた。でもそれを忘れた。

2. 私は窓を閉めたのを忘れた。
Does using the past tense of 'close' give us the right answer?

~し

~し is often used to list several reasons while suggesting there are other unsaid reasons. For example:

京都はきれいだし、東京から新幹線(しんかんせん）でかんたんに行けるし、日本の文化がいっぱいあるから面白い場所です。

Kyoto is beautiful, can easily be reached by Shinkansen from Tokyo, there is much culture... so it's an interesting place.

I've noticed that at my junior high school the students use this type of sentence all the time, even when they only mention one thing. For example,

気持ちが悪い（きみちがわるい）＞ 気持ち悪い＞ きもい（slang style version)＞ きもいし

So, when describing someone, students often say things like:

彼はきもいし。

なおしてください

「僕の日本語の間違えをなおしてね」と友達によく言うんだけど日本人はあまりなおしてくれない。親切だからかな？もしイギリスで外国人が英語で間違えたら何か言うのにな？

こないだずっと会ってなかった友達にやっと会った。一回だけなんだけど彼女は僕の日本語の間違えをなおしてくれた。本当にびっくりした～こんなことはめずらしいと思った。

知らない

In my Japanese class back at university the teacher told us that the opposite of 知っています is not 知っていません but 知りません. It's just one of those things to remember.

I overheard a Japanese conversation between a foreigner and someone whom I consider to be a totally fluent speaker of Japanese. The first guy said 「知ってないと思うよ」 to which the second guy said 「うん、知ってない」. This shocked me but I thought that it could be Japanese which is used in conversation only. However, my 習字 teacher insists that it isn't even used in conversation. So I'm a little confused - still, I'll stick with 知りません・知らない which I hear all the time.

～っけ ＆ ～っこない

67. ～っけ

か？、ね？、かな？ are given in my book as hints to the meaning of this grammar point. But the translation I naturally came up with is 'what was it?' It's normally used in conversation when the speaker can't remember something he or she knows or knew. For example, '何だっけ？' A more polite version is でしたっけ。

68. ～っこない

絶対に～ないこと。I.e. something which isn't going to happen. For example: 私は今日レポートを終わりっこない。I definately can't finish this report today. I haven't actually heard this used in conversation at all suggesting that maybe it's not used all that often? Now I've studied it, perhaps I'll pick it up when I'm listening to conversation from now on.

として、としても

93. として is used for 'as' in sentences like:

京都は日本の古い都として知られている。Kyoto is known as an old city in Japan.

94. としても is used for 'even if' type sentences like:

その人が親切そうに見えたとしても、本当に親切かどうか分からない。

あなたは恥ずかしい

No, that sentence isn't right, I thought. I wanted to express that 'you' embarrasses 'me', but the sentence in the title of this post makes no mention of 'me'. This led me on to the question, "what's the most appropriate type of sentence structure for describing feelings induced by somebody else?"

Now, the answer seems kind of obvious. Credit to Jun for his advice:

あなたがそんなことをすると困る。If you do that kind of thing...
あなたがそんなことを言うと困る。If you say that kind of thing...

This reminds me of another useful phrase I learnt to say something along the lines of 'that hurts my feelings':

あれをしたら気分が悪くなるよ。

うけみ形・かのう形 (2)

The title translates to 'passive form' & 'potential form'.

When you study Japanese you will become aware that for 'group 2' verbs the passive form and potential form are the same. For example:

ねずみはねこに食べられる ー　The mouse is eaten by the cat
野菜が食べられる　ー　I can eat vegetables ＆　

There is a common shortcut used in spoken Japanese for the potential form of group 2 verbs. The shortcut is to cut out the ら from ～られる. For example:

天丼が食べれる　（not 食べられる）

I wondered whether this shortcut could be used for the passive form - the answer is no. For example, you can't use the following sentence:

ねずみはねこに食べれる

ーながら ＆ できる

In Japanese we for 'can' with a verb we use the following grammar (replace verb with one of your choice in dictionary form):

…行くことができる。

But we can use a shorter form - though this change depends on what type of verb we are using, i.e. group I, II or III. In this example, with a group I verb we use ける replacing the く in 行く. Then, the sentence above becomes a single word with the same meaning:

…行ける。

For describing 'while' events we use ーながら after the ます form of a verb. When translating I sometimes get confused which is the 'while' verb as I studied that the second verb is the most important while some sentence translations I've seen seem to emphasize the first verb:

私はテレビを見ながら夕飯を食べる。

So this is all well and good, but today I tried the following sentence:

1. 山中湖で富士山が見えながらテニスをした。

My intent was to try and combine:

2. 富士山が見える & 3. 富士山を見ながら…

So, the end result: you can't make sentences like 1! Two sentences are needed for my intended meaning. So there you are, don't try and combine these two grammar structures.

御飯のご

My question: "What's the difference between the 「ご」 in 「ごはん」 (rice) and a normal 「ご」 to indicate politeness, such as 「ご主人」. This has been bothering me for a while. A Japanese friend sent me this answer today - I don't quite understand it yet, but this site is meant for my little notes. I'll come back to it when I have some more time.

この「ご」は尊敬（そんけい）を表すとともに丁寧（ていねい）の意（い）を表す。「飯」は天から恵まれたものという考え方。日本は農耕民族（のうこうみんぞく）だったので、稲作（いなさく）は天気に左右された。だから、天から恵まれたと考えたと思う。