206Japanese proverb ことわざ
人の噂も七十五日
ひとのうわさもしちじゅうごにちHito no uwasa mo shichijūgo-nichi
“A rumor lives but seventy-five days.”
The meaning
What sets tongues wagging today will be forgotten in a season. Knowing public attention is fleeting helps you cross the embarrassment without giving it more room than it will take.
At the origin
An Edo proverb: seventy-five days, the length of a season in the old calendar.
The characters
- 人 hitopeople
- の noof (link)
- 噂
- も
- 七十五日
のParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.
In practice
Facing gossip, count in seasons, not in days.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 176 明日の百より今日の五十 Better fifty today than a hundred tomorrow.
- 175 花七日 Blossoms last seven days.
- 232 春や昔十五万石の城下かな Spring — long ago, a proud castle town of a hundred fifty thousand koku.
- 276 六日の菖蒲、十日の菊 Iris on the sixth, chrysanthemum on the tenth: one day too late.
- 071 明日は明日の風が吹く Tomorrow, tomorrow's wind will blow.