In Japan, Valentine’s Day is all about women giving chocolates to men in their lives—boyfriends, family members, schoolmates and work colleagues. But with coronavirus cases on the rise (again) and companies switching to remote work, workplace Valentine’s Day took a different turn.
The tweet below is a joke about how Valentine’s Day took a hit this year. Still, some people noticed a lot more men in the office than usual. Women apparently aren’t interested in gifting chocolate to coworkers when remote work is an option.
Were you expecting chocolates?
なんか今日、出社してる男性陣いつもより多くてワロタww
そして女性陣、全員在宅勤務で更にワロタwwww
“Strangely, the number of male employees at the office is higher than usual today. Lol!
And what’s more impressive, all the women are working from home. Lol!”
Express ‘furthermore’ or ‘moreover’
Time to get new Japanese conjunction under your belt with 更に. This JLPT N3 level phrase is used daily and can translate several nuances. The most common is to express an increase in the degree or stages of a situation.
- 更にはきれいになった: And now she’s even prettier.
- 更にになりました: I’ve gotten even better.
- 更にいことにはがりだした: To make matters worse, rain began to fall.
更に also indicates something that is being renewed.
A second nuance is a repetition or the addition of what has already been done before.
- 10のがにれた: Ten more years have passed.
Finally, 更に also indicates something that is being renewed.
- をにする: I’m going to renew the contract further.
Vocabulary
Japanese Romaji English なんか nanka Somehow, for some reason 出社する shussha suru Come (go) to the office 男性陣 danseijin Men camp (as in a battle formation, or taking a side) いつもより itsumo yori More than usual ワロタ warota lol (Internet slang) 女性陣 joseijin Women camp (as in a battle formation, or taking a side) 全員 zenin All the members of a group 在宅勤務 zaitakukinmu Remote working
