敬遠の使い方について (how to use the expression 敬遠)


# 日本語

クリスマスプレゼントとして、『日本酒辞典』という本をもらいました。読んでいると、以下の文が出てきました：

> (前略)ついつい頼んでしまったり、気になるけど注文しづらくて敬遠している、なんて人もいるでしょう。

理解できていると思うのですが、[国語辞典](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/66037/meaning/m0u/)と[外国人のjdict](http://jisho.org/search/%E6%95%AC%E9%81%A0)で「敬遠」を調べてみたところ、どのセンスがあてはまるか分からないです。

本文の定義としては、「難しいと思って、回避する」だと思います。

私が勘違いしているのでしょうか。

# English

As a Christmas present, I received "日本酒辞典." While reading, I encountered the
following sentence:

> ... ついつい頼んでしまったり、気になるけど注文しづらくて敬遠している、なんて人もいるでしょう。

I think I understand the sentence but the use of 敬遠 does not seem to match up
well with either [goo](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/66037/meaning/m0u/) or
[外国人のjdict](http://jisho.org/search/%E6%95%AC%E9%81%A0)'s definitions for
「敬遠」.

I think it means to avoid because you find it daunting.

Am I misunderstanding the usage here?




In addition to cases where you do find someone/something unpleasant, you can
use "敬遠" to describe situations where you avoid someone/something for other,
less negative reasons.

One such reason would be that you consider the person as being out your
league, that you are no match for them. Another would be that you find the
thing alright, or even desirable, but the path you must take to get to it is
not.

So, in the case of JDICT, to define "敬遠" simply and singly as "avoiding
(something unpleasant)" would be to define it too narrowly, though not
outright wrongly.

In fairness to them, however, I must mention that they also give the less-
specifying second gloss "shy away from", presumably in order to counteract the
over-specification of the first, or at least to properly widen the coverage.
We would be wrong to judge them based on (the bad) half of the evidence.

As for goo辞書's case, I think "かかわりを持つことを嫌ってその物事を避けること。" leaves no room for
fault-finding.

Unlike JDICT's "avoiding (something unpleasant)", this does not say the
avoided entity is found dislikable (I fear "dislikable" might be too strong a
word for "嫌って" here), but it's the _having to do with it_ that it says is
found dislikable.

And they would be right in this claim. "敬遠" does not entail that the avoider
has a distaste for the avoided, but it is, I think, necessarily true that they
find the experience that comes with having or being with or getting to it/them
disagreeable or at least uncomfortable. This is the case even in situations
where the person/thing being kept a distance from is regarded positively in
some way. A couple of examples:

  * 男子たちは彼女を高嶺の花だと思って敬遠している。 

This sentence means the boys hold the girl in high estimation, but they don't
feel comfortable at the prospect of dating her, or possibly talking to her or
possibly, even, literally getting near her, because they think she is too good
for them and they would feel like dirt next to her.

  * このカフェには興味があったけど駅から遠いので今まで敬遠していた。 

This means you've been interested in the cafe, but the travel there seemed
like too much of a hassle to you so you've never popped in, until now.

The last example reminds me that 敬遠 doesn't always involve active avoidance,
suggesting that translations like "avoid" (which I believe carries the
connotation of activeness) might not fit the word's meaning sometimes.

Lastly and most importantly, about your interpretation of the use of the word
in the quote. I can't say I'm absolutely certain, but I do tend to agree the
text is commenting that there are probably some people who find sake (or some
particular sake?) so daunting that they avoid it. At the least it is not
indicating by the use of "敬遠" that said people avoid (some particular) sake
because they find it unpleasant.

So in conclusion, I will say that your interpretation of the word, as I hope
I've somehow managed to show, is entirely acceptable, and is not (entirely) at
odds with the dictionaries' accounts of its meaning and usage.




「難しいと思って回避する」 is a good interpretation of the sentence, and reflects a common
connotation of the word 敬遠-する.

Actually, 日本国語大辞典 (a larger dictionary) has 「また，単に人や物事を避けること」 as a meaning.
You can simply understand it as "to avoid", but I _feel_ that it's usually
used for avoiding something but understanding at the same time that it is
valuable (at least potentially) or that it is appreciated elsewhere.

Searching google for
[敬遠しがち](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%22%E6%95%AC%E9%81%A0%E3%81%97%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A1%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8)
might give you some examples of similar usage.

