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絵に描いた餅

English translation: pie in the sky

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Japanese term or phrase:絵に描いた餅
English translation:pie in the sky
Entered by: Matthew Fagan

01:38 Feb 21, 2007
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Environment & Ecology
Japanese term or phrase: 絵に描いた餅
This is some kind of metaphor or fixed expression (not the literal meaning). The context is:
地球の環境保護が絵に描いた餅となってしまいます

I'm guessing something like "the vision that is never realized", but am not sure.
Matthew Fagan
Japan
Local time: 12:56
pie in the sky
Explanation:
対訳は、"Wine in the bottle does not quench thirst."でしょうか。
ここでは、"pie in the sky"でよいのでは。
Selected response from:

YNishi
Japan
Local time: 12:56
Grading comment
Thanks everyone for your quick replies! Everyone's answers were useful. I chose this one because "pie in the sky" will fit perfectly into what I'm doing. Thanks YNishi, and thanks to Can and Rie too.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3pie in the sky
YNishi
5A useless thing
Can Altinbay
5pie in the sky
lavanya sriram
4academic
Yuki Okada
3impractical (idea, plan, argument, proposition, etc)
RieM


  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
A useless thing


Explanation:
See the first Google match for the term:
www.geocities.jp/kuro_kurogo/ko-jien01/page16.html

You can't eat a picture of a mochi, hence it's totally useless.


Can Altinbay
Local time: 23:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in JapaneseJapanese
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
pie in the sky


Explanation:
対訳は、"Wine in the bottle does not quench thirst."でしょうか。
ここでは、"pie in the sky"でよいのでは。


YNishi
Japan
Local time: 12:56
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks everyone for your quick replies! Everyone's answers were useful. I chose this one because "pie in the sky" will fit perfectly into what I'm doing. Thanks YNishi, and thanks to Can and Rie too.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  KathyT: I love 'pie in the sky.' :-)
5 mins
  -> Thank you, Kathy san.
agree  Charlesp
1 hr
  -> Thank you.
agree  casey
2 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
impractical (idea, plan, argument, proposition, etc)


Explanation:
Some other alternatives. I think you've got the gist of it!

RieM
United States
Local time: 23:56
Native speaker of: Japanese
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
pie in the sky


Explanation:
Agree to 1st comment by Ynishi

Reference given below



    Reference: http://www.kotowaza.org/
lavanya sriram
Local time: 12:56
Native speaker of: Native in TamilTamil
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
academic


Explanation:
What about this one? Good thing to discuss, but not attainable practically, hence academic.

Yuki Okada
Canada
Local time: 20:56
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 24
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