Cold, not Cold

The first snow has fallen. Somehow it’s not as magical in the city. The whiteness is only there early in the morning; afterward, it turns into a mushy, slushy mess. By the afternoon, when you step outside, it’s more like, “UGH, it’s snow,” instead of “Wow, it’s snow!”, full of wonder that something miraculous happened while you were sleeping.

Talking about cold. There’s a subtle difference in Japanese depending on whether you can physically feel the cold or not. Air, which you can’t really touch, is さむい (samui). So when commenting on chilly weather or saying you feel cold, you say さむい. A native Japanese speaker wouldn’t think twice about this. But when I heard my son say つめたい (tsumetai), I was confused until I realized he was telling me, “I’m cold.” Actually, it should be “ぼくはさむい” (Boku wa samui).

Water, on the other hand, is つめたい because it’s something you can touch. Water is NOT さむい.

To make it more complicated, cold in “cold-hearted” is also つめたい, even though you can’t physically touch a heart. And then there’s the lame joke: “Samui,” often shortened to “さむ,” is what people say when a joke falls flat.

And should I just mention it’s much easier with hot weather or hot water? They’re both pronounced あつい (atsui), though the kanji are different: 熱い for something hot to the touch like water, and 暑い for hot weather.