重箱の隅をつつく Nitpick

昨日、翻訳をしていたら知らない諺、「重箱の隅をつつく」という表現が出てきました。私は知らない諺や表現があると英訳のみではなく、日本語の意味もしっかり調べた上で英訳することを心がけています。何故かと言うと、自分の勉強になることは大前提ですが、もっと的確な英訳があるか自分の頭にある辞書と確認したいため。しかし今回は辞書に出てきたNitpickが適当であったため、そのように訳しました。

さて、知らなかったのですが、「重箱の隅を楊枝で穿る」とちょっと違う言い方もあるようで、両方の意味はと言うと、重箱の真ん中にあるご馳走には目もくれず、隅ばかりつくこと。面白い表現ですね。そこで少し文章を練ってみて、私もこれに沿った新しい英訳の諺を作ってみました：To pick at the crust of a sandwichサンドウィッチの耳をつつく（＾＾）

Yesterday when I was translating, I came upon a proverb I didn't know, "pick the corners of a tiered food box". When I find a proverb or saying that I don't know, I try to fully understand the meaning in Japanese and not only look for the translation. Mainly for my studies but also to check if there is a more accurate translation in the dictionary in my head. However this time the translation "nitpick" in the dictionary was appropriate so I went with that.

Now, I didn't know this but there is also another way to say this proverb, "scoop the corners of a tiered food box with a tooth pick". Both phrases talk about the mannerism of not even looking at the feast in the middle but picking at the corners. I think it's a really interesting phrase so I thought of a phrase myself that goes along with same line as this proverb: To pick at the crust of a sandwich :)