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I saw the phrase よいではないか (yoi de wa nai ka) in a comic strip, and decided to
look it up because its literal meaning of "isn't it good?" didn't seem to make
any sense.

My research indicated that it was related to something a man says while
unwrapping a woman's waist cloth on her kimono (such as in [this cheaply made
iPhone game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piXCwHUMu7s)), which confused me
even more because there was nothing remotely suggesting something that would
make one say よいではないか.

Can anyone explain the history behind this phrase and its current usage?
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2014-07-13T02:29:29.420
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meaning
What does よいではないか mean?
While よい (or more modernly いい) can mean "good", it is often used in places
where in English we would use "ok" or "all right". In the case of the phone
game the man is trying to undress the woman while pressuring her to go along
by saying "isn't it all right?"

This comes to mind:
[いいじゃないの？ダメよー、ダメダメ！](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee_9R77MfpU)
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「よいではないか」 literally is "Isn't it OK", and usually it means "That's OK" or "No
problem".

In general, 「よいではないか」 is a pompous expression and used by high-ranked people,
such as kings, mainly in fiction. Usually real people use shorter expressions
such as "いいでしょ", "いいよね", "ダメ?", "問題ある?".

So-called
「[よいではないか](http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%82%88%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7%E3%81%AF%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%8B)」
is also a famous recurring joke in Japan, and that's why you got many search
results related to this. This is how it goes:

> Woman in kimono: 「○○様、おやめ下さい！」 _Please stop it, sir!_  
>  Man: 「グヘヘ、よいではないか、よいではないか～」 _Hehe, don't worry, it's fine..._  
>  Woman: 「あーーれーー」 _Oh, nooooo!_ (kimono stripped)  
>  (Maybe some kind of hero jumps in)

I doubt real people in the Edo period played like this (belts in kimono are
not that long!), and apparently almost [no one knows who did this
first](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q13109638923).
I remember a Japanese comedian
[志村けん](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Shimura) (Ken Shimura) did this
frequently in his comedy show
[志村けんのバカ殿様](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%E3%83%90%E3%82%AB%E6%AE%BF%E6%A7%98)
in the 1980's.

If neither of these explanations still makes sense, please edit the question
and provide more context.
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answer