売る
u-ru
In Japanese you can sell a fight
The picture Something on my side is pushed across to your side, and the price comes back the other way. 売る pushes my goods across to you; 買う pulls your goods across to me.
Where the picture shows up in 売る
-
A shop puts goods out
この店では切手も売っています。
kono mise de wa kitte mo utte i-masu
This shop sells stamps too.
Stamps laid on the counter facing the customer, waiting to be traded for coins.
-
My thing into their hands
古い車を売りました。
furui kuruma o uri-mashita
I sold my old car.
The car key leaves my fingers and drops into someone else's open palm.
-
Holding out a lower price
もう少し安く売ってください。
mō sukoshi yasuku utte kudasai
Could you let me have it a bit cheaper?
A thumb rubs out the number on the tag and writes a smaller one, then holds it out.
-
Putting your own face out
この辺で顔を売っておくと仕事が来ます。
kono hen de kao o utte oku to shigoto ga ki-masu
Get your face known around here and the work comes to you.
Someone holds their face forward into a crowd and presses a slip with their name into each hand.
顔を売る is not selling a face; it is making yourself known.
-
Holding out a fight
喧嘩を売らないでください。
kenka o uranaide kudasai
Please don't pick a fight.
A fist shoved forward right under the other person's nose, as if offering it to be taken.
All of it in one picture
売る is one hand holding something out toward the other side. Push stamps onto the counter and you are selling; let the car key cross into someone else's palm and you have sold it; hold out a lower number on the tag and you are selling it cheap; hold out your own face and people start knowing you; hold out a fist under someone's nose and you are picking a fight. Anything with 売る keeps that feeling: what was on my side has crossed over to theirs.