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Yep, I'm reading a lot of
[Tintin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin) in Japanese
recently, and he keeps throwing me curve balls with the language. Here's
another one.

The situation is that the car he was in has been run off the road into a small
lake. A few people have gathered around to see if he's okay, and he asks if
there is anyone in the group who can drive him the rest of the way to
[Nyon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyon) (a small city in Switzerland).

Here's how he asks:

![tintin saying aru](https://i.stack.imgur.com/X4mg2.jpg)

The part I'm wondering about is where he says
`「ところでみなさんの中{なか}にニヨンにつれってくださるかたありません？」`

Unless I'm missing something, he is using `ありません`, the negative form of `ある`,
to refer to people. I was taught that one should use `いる` for people, and that
it would be rude to use `ある`, because of the obvious implication that you are
referring to them as inanimate objects.

Especially since he is asking for a considerable favour from strangers,
shouldn't Tintin use `いる`?

Why did the translator opt to use `ある`?

**Bonus question:** Could Tintin have used `おりません` in this situation?
[Keigo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese) always
trips me up, but I thought `おる` was a more polite way of saying `いる`...? I'm
not sure if `おる` is humble or not, and if it would imply he was being humble
or if it would impose humbleness on the people he was talking to (and
therefore not fit).
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2011-10-13T06:21:03.557
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2011-10-18T13:28:32.197
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question
word-choice keigo copula
What makes using ある for people okay in this context?
Ok, so, in "modern" Japanese, the _norm_ is "ある" for things, and "いる" for
beings. However, it seems that it's not a mandatory rule to follow.

`〜くださる方がある` has probably survived today as a fixed form from more liberal
times.

You'll find more such idiosyncrasies around, as in words like 在宅{ざいたく} which
means "to be home" but where the root is 在る{ある}.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-13T10:43:48.400
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2011-10-13T10:43:48.400
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answer