13376
> A: Can we have a date tomorrow too? B: Don't get carried away! ^^;
>
> A: 明日もデートしてくれる？ B: 調子{ちょうし}に乗{の}るなー！ ^^;

I just would like some clarification to see exactly how 調子に乗る works. I see it
literally as "ride the tone" which I hesitantly extrapolate as to "get carried
away by the feeling," which can be seen as an equivalent to another
translation of this phrase, "to feel cocky."

Is this line of thinking along the right track?

Is this only an informal expression?

What is its level of rudeness or politeness?

Other examples:

[http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=調子に乗る&ref=sa](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E8%AA%BF%E5%AD%90%E3%81%AB%E4%B9%97%E3%82%8B&ref=sa)

> 調子に乗っていると 失敗{しっぱい}するよ｜You'll fail if you get carried away too much.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2013-11-08T17:31:27.740
13375
2019-10-19T10:14:05.153
2019-10-19T10:14:05.153
706
question
phrases
Questions on the phrase 調子に乗る
(I was just about to do a little research before answering this when I was
delighted to see a citation to another answer from me to a different question:
[Where does the phrase 「ノリが悪い」 come from and what is the
meaning?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/6587/where-does-the-
phrase-))

Rather than repeat this answer, I think it is enough to say that you have the
equivalent expression in English and, as often happens, we have found an
almost identical metaphor in Japanese:

> 調子 means tune or tone.
>
> 乗る usually means ride, which is roughly an intransitive equivalent of carry
> ("allow oneself to be carried")
>
> "Don't get carried away" is in a literal sense similar to synchronising
> one's action to the music in place of "thinking before you act".

It is also an example of how almost identical expressions in English and
Japanese differ because they are passive in one language but not the other (or
transitive in one language but intransitive in the other)- in this case we
"get carried" in English (passive) but ride in Japense (active). Both are
intransitive.

You can remember this as a colloquial expression and use it in polite company
as you would in English but it is also a nice example of how a basic verb we
learn quite early in our Japanese studies can have as many and often similar
meanings as its English equivalent. Other examples include 取る・to take or 飛ぶ・to
fly.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-09T07:36:30.800
13376
2013-11-10T10:50:04.713
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
1556
13375
answer