It's hot ... isn't it!?

I've been studying Japanese on and off (more off than on) for some time now. I'm far from fluent, but I can hold the occasional halting conversation. Why, only yesterday, I asked in broken Japanese, "Has anyone seen my diary? It's about this big, black, has a hard cover, and I'm totally screwed without it." thereby demonstrating the importance of the desire to communicate in language learning. But every now and then I discover that I know nothing.

Konnichiwa. Atsui desu.

After basic greetings the first Japanese phrases I learnt were ii tenki desu ne (nice weather, isn't it), atsui desu (it's hot!) and samui desu (it's cold). Well, I thought I learnt them. It turns out that I'm still discovering what they really mean.

First, I learnt that the word atsui (hot) also functions as a cry of pain. If you set fire to a Japanese person, they don't say itai! (ouch!); they say atsui!

Then, I learnt that samui (cold) has a somewhat narrower meaning than the English word cold.  If a Japanese person walks into a cold room, he says samui, but if he picks up an ice cube he says sumetai (cold to the touch).

Then I learnt that samui and atsui are used for describing experiences rather than objective facts.  So a more pedantic translation of samui desu would be "I feel cold."

And yesterday I discovered that ii tenki desu ne doesn't mean what I thought.  I was reviewing a Japanese language textbook with my wife, and we'd reached the chapter on weather.  Here's the conversation we had (in Japanese):

 ― How's the weather?
 ― It's not very good.
 ― Really? Is it sunny? Is it cloudy? Is it raining?
 ― It's sunny.
 ― Is it good weather?
 ― No, it isn't. It's hot and humid.
 ― No.  Sunny weather is good weather. It's good weather.
 ― Eh?
 ― Hot and humid is how you feel. It's sunny, so it's good weather.
 ― So ... even if it was 50℃, it would be good weather?
 ― That's right. Sunny weather is good weather. Rainy weather is bad weather.

naruhodo! (well I never!)

When I think about it more, it makes sense. The Japanese hate the rain – they get their umbrellas out at the slightest provocation – and I suppose that, for a Japanese rice farmer or fisherman, rain and sunshine were the difference between feast and famine. So, by definition, rain is bad and sunshine is good. 'Nuff said.