Dramatic Phrases in Victory Speeches in EN and JP

The results of the US midterm election are now on the table. Most people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean have surely heard enough victory speeches by now.
 
Newly (re)elected politicians usually speak of their commitment to their voters with great passion and enthusiasm. The same can be said for Japan. While watching election results in recent local elections there, I began to notice a pet expression favoured in the #political #rhetoric :
 
粉骨砕身 (fun kotsu sai shin)
 
This is a set phrase meaning “service with full devotion”. It comes from the compendium of Zen Buddhist scriptures, 禅林類纂 (Zenrin Ruisan), and literally means “to work hard as if grinding one’s own bones and smashing one’s own flesh into pieces”.
 
You may find this a bit macabre. Indeed, it reminds me somehow of the word “玉砕” (Gyokusai = smashing a jewel into pieces), which is a synonym for the idealized martyrdom carried out for the sake of the motherland during World War II.

Anglo-Saxon speeches are not quite that extreme. Yet you can still hear a similar tune in other phrases and wording in English. When considering this, the UK Prime Minister’s first speech on the steps of Downing Street came to my mind. Here, Rishi Sunak said:
 
“… I will work day in and day out to deliver for you.”
Japanese equivalent (free translation): 国民の皆様のために粉骨砕身してまいります
 
⏳ Let’s wait and see if such a declaration ends up being more than the typical “lip service”.
 
#translation #vocabularies #connotations #四字熟語 #japanese #idiom