Departments
Lesson 14:
As If It Were Proper
The expression atarimae is used to convey that something is reasonable or proper.
Atarimae no yoo ni means “as if it were proper.” The implication is that someone’s conduct is actually improper, but he is acting as if his actions were perfectly reasonable. In certain contexts, atarimae no yoo ni might correspond to the English concept of nonchalance.
In the following passage, the author describes the way in which environmental destruction has been brought about through human activity. He uses the term atarimae no yoo ni to express indignation and disapproval.
私たちの生活と仕事（生産､販売､消費､廃棄）は、大量のエネルギー消費と森林破壊をあたりまえのようにやってきた。このことが大量の二酸化炭素と廃棄物をうみ、地球の生態系を壊し 地球の気候をも変えようとしている。
Original Japanese source: http://www2.gol.com/users/takesuzu/
"Our life and work (production, selling, consumption, waste) have used up large amounts of energy and destroyed the forests as if this were our birthright. This activity has produced prodigious quantities of carbon dioxide and waste materials, and it threatens to destroy the earth’s ecological system, and change the global climate."