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While I learned this phrase ～に飢える／うえる, or ‘oo-eh-roo’, from Six Lounge’s song「くだらない」, I haven’t really used it until an incident at work. It turns out that aside from helping you pass JLPT N2, it’ll also help you express when you’re feeling flirty and…thirsty~~

If you’re not a native English speaker, we often use ‘thirsty’ for when we feel in the mood for a lover. Of course we ALSO use it for when we want to drink something, but the former is a common slang…or “code”, maybe. It can have kind of negative connotations, often implying a DESPERATION for a lover, but the reality is that most of us know what that’s like, whether you want to admit it or not. Anyway, I was feelin’ it and asked my colleague how to express that, and she used: ‘彼氏に飢えてる’ or かれしにうえてる’／kah-reh-shee nee oo-eh-teh-roo’. This basically means ‘I’m hungry for a boyfriend’.

To be honest, this conversation happened a while ago so I’m not sure if that’s the exact phrasing she used, but I’ve said it around my Japanese friends and they got a good laugh out of it. The nuance seems to be well-understood, although whether it makes me look good or not is a different story. Haha~

Anyway, what I’ve been finding about this phrase is that we can use it in a lot of ways. By placing a noun in front of ～に飢える、we can express ANYTHING we’ve been ‘dying’ for, so to speak.

For instance…SINCE we’re on the topic of Six Lounge, I’ve been really really REALLY sad that Yuumori and Riku haven’t been active at all on social media. I know it’s because everyone is busy and whatnot, but when it’s your favorite band, you wanna know what the hell everyone is up to. The drummer, Shintaro, posts on Twitter to keep us fans in the know, but he’s like…the only member. I was crying about this to my friend and she said: 「情報に飢えてる」or ‘joh-hou nee oo-eh-teh-roo‘. This means: ‘starving for information‘.

Funny enough, even though 飢える translates to ‘starving’, I’ve never ever heard it used in the way English speakers use ‘starving’ for ‘REALLY HUNGRY’. For example, in English we say, ‘Oh my gosh, I haven’t eaten all day. I’m STARVING’ but in Japanese, I’m pretty sure they’d just say ‘お腹がめっちゃすいてる’ or ‘oh-nah-kah gah meh-cha soo-ee-teh-roo’. It seems that 飢える is more commonly used to express not having enough. Then again, I suppose we could say ‘食料に飢えてる人’…maybe? Like ‘People starving for food‘? I’m not quite sure, but from the brief explanation my teacher gave, it sounds like that meaning is also used. Not quite sure how natural it is, though.

In any case, I feel that those flirty nuances are particularly difficult to translate between English and Japanese, so I was really excited that I could express a feeling like that. Once you get the hang of it, it’s quite fun to test expressions, so give it a try.

Happy learning~