腰抜け

English translation: elasticity

03:50 Oct 4, 2006

Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Science - Cosmetics, Beauty

Japanese term or phrase: 腰抜け

伸び・つき・取れ・腰抜け等製品の個々に求められている官能項目が経時的に変化しているか、製品の使用方法に合わせて確認する。

What does　腰抜け mean in this context?

casey KudoZ activity Questions: 513 (none open) (21 closed without grading) Answers: 389 United States
Local time: 12:43

English translation:elasticity

Explanation:
「腰がある」の否定で「腰抜け」と表現していると思います。化粧品関連であれば、弾力性に欠ける、あるいは、しなやかさに欠ける、と解釈できませんか。

Selected response from:

isoyo
Local time: 01:43

Grading comment

I have a strong feeling sigmalanguage may be correct here, but each of these words is a Japanese conjugate (is that the proper term? I mean they all have hiragana on the end), so if I split 腰 and 抜け I would end up with one that did not. I may be totally off the mark, and this does appear to be a negative term, but they're the ones who wrote it this way, so...
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

elasticity

isoyo

2 +1

腰、抜け = consistency, refreshingness

sigmalanguage

poor plasticity

cinefil

Discussion entries: 5

Answers

41 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

elasticity

isoyo
Local time: 01:43
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

2 hrs confidence:

poor plasticity

Explanation:
just a guess

cinefil
Japan
Local time: 01:43
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 16

11 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

腰、抜け = consistency, refreshingness

Explanation:
I might be totally off the mark, but I decided to post my opinion that this is an error of 腰、抜け.

腰抜け is quite puzzling to me because:
1. 腰抜け is the only negative word on the list. Please also mark the phrase 求められている官能項目 (desired sensual qualities). A positive word is definitely required here.
2. #1 is all the more strange because this is the cosmetic industry. I don't think they ever describe a product with a word that can possibly give a negative impression even when they are not speaking before customers.

I concluded that this word should be divided into 腰 and 抜け, and the both words should be understood positively.

The meaning of 腰がある is hard to explain in English, but it is the opposite of watery or elastic (as Isoyo-san says). I want to go for "consistency" in this context.

抜け was quite a challenge and this is nothing more than a pure guess, but I thought of those skincare products that you use to remove age spots on the skin or cleanse clobbed pores. When you suck the dirt out, you feel fully refreshed and this "sensual" pleasure might well be described as 抜け. For English translation, I also considered "absorbency", "stripping quality", "cleansing quality", but decided on "refreshingness".

Hope this is not a piece of rubbish, but it might be.

sigmalanguage
Japan
Local time: 01:43
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 4

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腰抜け

English translation: elasticity

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English translation: elasticity

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