This is my first encounter with the word 万引き, and the fact I never would have expected it to mean “shoplifting” despite knowing both those kanji individually sent me down a bit of an etymology rabbit hole:
Originally 間引き (まびき, “thinning out [seedlings]”), applied euphemistically to a store’s inventory. The pronunciation had shifted to まんびき by 1831, and 万 in the modern form is purely phonetic.
Oh that’s neat, I just assumed the meaning was it’s someone just running out with a cartful of stuff, but it seems the original meaning was to sneakily take out pieces from the spaces.
The sign underneath says “If you shoplift, you will become like this”
Don’t threaten me with a good time!!!
promise?
This is my first encounter with the word 万引き, and the fact I never would have expected it to mean “shoplifting” despite knowing both those kanji individually sent me down a bit of an etymology rabbit hole:
Originally 間引き (まびき, “thinning out [seedlings]”), applied euphemistically to a store’s inventory. The pronunciation had shifted to まんびき by 1831, and 万 in the modern form is purely phonetic.
Oh that’s neat, I just assumed the meaning was it’s someone just running out with a cartful of stuff, but it seems the original meaning was to sneakily take out pieces from the spaces.