「安い」って英語からきた表現？


皆さんこんにちは、

日本語で質問を聞かせていただきますので、ご協力ください。 回答やコメントなどは、日本語か英語、どちらの言語でも喜んで読みます。

では。  
此間友達と喋っていて好みの話をしていた時一人が「ホラー映画やB級映画が大好き」と言うやいなや「あなた安いな〜」ともう一人が反応しました。

その「安い」は、英語に「cheap」と直訳すれば同じ意味が通じるそうなので、もしかしたら英語からきた表現じゃないかと思ってきました。(その逆もありえるのですが、あんまり想像できません)。JLUの皆さん、どう思いますか？偶然に意味も言葉も合うか、または英語とかから日本語に導入された表現でしょうか？

宜しくお願いします。




I agree with Enno Shioji that the use of the expression あなた安いな for “You are so
cheap (= You are so easily satisfied)” is uncommon in Japanese. I do not think
that it has been used in Japanese for a long time. However, this usage
definitely exists; we can see several webpages which contain this usage of 安い
(I searched “安い人だ” in Google and chose suitable usages from the search
results).

  * [おれって安い人だなー](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Gaius_Petronius/20110412)
  * [たかだかハワイでそう思える僕は安い人だ](http://brst.jp/?day=20110722)
  * [大臣ならともかくあと何日続くかわからない政務官で買われるとは随分安い人だ](http://kashiwataro.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/2342830/allcmt/)

(The third example above may or may not be in the same category because it may
be regarded as a metaphor which describes a person as a commercial product.)

It may be the case that this usage of 安い was derived from the usual meaning
“costing little” of the word 安い by the metaphor, independently of English,
just in the same way as the English word “cheap” acquired its “easily
satisfied” meaning. Or it may be the case that the expression in Japanese
originates from the literal translation of the English expression “You are
cheap.” I do not know how to tell which is true.

安い has a different but perhaps related usage:
[Daijisen](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E5%AE%89%E3%81%84&dtype=0&dname=0na&stype=0)
(sense 2) lists the meaning “insignificant” with an example 安く見られる (considered
insignificant, underestimated), and
[Daijirin](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E5%AE%89%E3%81%8F%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%89%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0ss)
has a separate entry for 安く見られる. My impression is that 安く見られたものだ (literally “I
am considered insignificant”) is a common expression in Japanese to express
dissatisfaction or anger of the speaker. This is similar to your example in
that 安い is used to describe a person, but different because your example does
not mean “You are insignificant.”




I agree with Enno Shioji that the use of the expression あなた安いな for “You are so
cheap (= You are so easily satisfied)” is uncommon in Japanese. I do not think
that it has been used in Japanese for a long time. However, this usage
definitely exists; we can see several webpages which contain this usage of 安い
(I searched “安い人だ” in Google and chose suitable usages from the search
results).

  * [おれって安い人だなー](http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Gaius_Petronius/20110412)
  * [たかだかハワイでそう思える僕は安い人だ](http://brst.jp/?day=20110722)
  * [大臣ならともかくあと何日続くかわからない政務官で買われるとは随分安い人だ](http://kashiwataro.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/2342830/allcmt/)

(The third example above may or may not be in the same category because it may
be regarded as a metaphor which describes a person as a commercial product.)

It may be the case that this usage of 安い was derived from the usual meaning
“costing little” of the word 安い by the metaphor, independently of English,
just in the same way as the English word “cheap” acquired its “easily
satisfied” meaning. Or it may be the case that the expression in Japanese
originates from the literal translation of the English expression “You are
cheap.” I do not know how to tell which is true.

安い has a different but perhaps related usage:
[Daijisen](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E5%AE%89%E3%81%84&dtype=0&dname=0na&stype=0)
(sense 2) lists the meaning “insignificant” with an example 安く見られる (considered
insignificant, underestimated), and
[Daijirin](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E5%AE%89%E3%81%8F%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%89%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B&stype=0&dtype=0&dname=0ss)
has a separate entry for 安く見られる. My impression is that 安く見られたものだ (literally “I
am considered insignificant”) is a common expression in Japanese to express
dissatisfaction or anger of the speaker. This is similar to your example in
that 安い is used to describe a person, but different because your example does
not mean “You are insignificant.”

