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onbu ni dakko 2008/6/20 07:19
I'm looking for a good English translation of the idiom ''onbu ni dakko''. From what I found on the internet it means something like ''to rely completely (too much?) on others'' or ''to let someone else do all the work''. Please correct me if I got this wrong.

Is there maybe an English idiom with a similar meaning?

Any help is much appreciated.
by kirin  

off the top of my head 2008/6/20 12:33
maybe something like "born with a silver spoon in your mouth"
by soooooweeeeeeeeeet rate this post as useful

... 2008/6/20 15:39
"Born with a silver spoon..." is different :) "Onbu ni dakko" simply means "being dependent completely (on someone)," and it can just be talking about an extensive support you get from someone, for example, for business projects or travel arrangements, etc., etc.
Not that I can come up with a good ENglish equivalent, though :(
by AK rate this post as useful

well............ 2008/6/20 17:19
i knew it wasnt exactly the same thing. but "onbu ni dakko" just comes off as a childish phrase. hence the whole "born with" and "silver spoon" thing

i was originally going to say. "give a man a fish and he eats for day. teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime", but im pretty sure this is not a idiom
by soooooweeeeeeeeeet rate this post as useful

i just googled english equivilents 2008/6/21 06:33
haha how hard did you look. this was under like the third search result.

Riding on the coattails of someone

Mooching off someone

Living off the fat of the land

Being wholly dependent on

aahhh gotta love google haha
by guru rate this post as useful

Thanks 2008/6/21 08:50
Wow. Actually it didn't even cross my mind that a special expression like this might be explained on an English site since I couldn't find it in my dictionary either. So I only googled Japanese sites to find out the meaning.

Thanks everyone for the helpful answers!
by kirin rate this post as useful

onbu ni dakko 2008/6/22 00:07
How about "goldbricking"?
by nanshi rate this post as useful

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