41075
There is a proverb as follows.

> The mirror is (intentionally) broken due to his/her ugly face.

More precisely, the mirror is broken by the user right after the user knows
that her/his face is (so) ugly. Literally it is used to refer to one who
blames other innocent one because of his/her own mistake.

# Questions

Which one should I use in Japanese? Passive or Active form?

  * A: 顔が悪くて、鏡を割る。
  * B: 顔が悪くて、鏡が割られる。

Bonus: Is there a proverb in Japanese with the same meaning?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-21T16:52:24.487
41073
2017-11-28T08:09:28.980
2017-11-27T22:15:53.190
11192
question
grammar passive-voice
Do I need to use passive form here? "The mirror is broken due to his/her ugly face"
**I would prefer A.**

Since a passive form typically makes the actor ambiguous, B has no nuance of
"intentionally by the user."

A similar phrase in Japanese is **[責任転嫁]{せきにんてんか}** , though it is not a kind
of proverb ([諺]{ことわざ}) but a four-character idiom ([四字熟語]{よじじゅくご}). I couldn't
find an exact proverb. cf. [discussion
here](http://qanda.rakuten.ne.jp/qa264835.html).

_Side Note_ : I at first imagined a situation that a mirror is broken by
itself because it could not bear reflecting such an ugly face. It seems to me
that, regarding breaking mirrors, this situation might be more familiar to the
Japanese.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-21T17:52:16.377
41075
2016-11-21T18:00:26.680
2016-11-21T18:00:26.680
17890
17890
41073
answer
> The mirror is (intentionally) broken due to his/her ugly face.

My attempts are:

  1. **醜{みにく}い顔** なので鏡を（ **叩｛たた｝き** ） **割る** 。
  2. この鏡だと醜い顔に映るので鏡を（叩き）割る。
  3. 醜い顔を鏡の **せい** にして鏡を（叩き）割る。

    * An "ugly face" is usually translated into 「醜｛みにく｝い顔」.  
By the way, a famous fairytale "THE UGLY DUCKLING" is trasnlated as
「みにくいアヒルの子」

    * According to dictionaries "intentionally" is defined as 故意｛こい｝に, わざと or 敢｛あ｝えて, but I translated it as 叩｛たた｝き in 叩き割る because **叩き割る** has a connotation of " _breaking up something in pieces with showing or expressing one's violent anger_ ".

    * The first attempt is a literal translation. The second attempt is a translation expressing the angry feelings of the lady(?) who broke the mirror. The behavior might be called " **八つ当たり** _to take out on (the mirror)_ or _to vent one's anger on (the mirror)_ ". The third attempt is a so-called **責任転嫁**.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-28T04:23:14.760
54804
2017-11-28T08:09:28.980
2017-11-28T08:09:28.980
20624
20624
41073
answer