けちをつける
けちをつける
expression
to find fault; to nitpick; to jinx
1.
to find fault with; to nitpick; to criticize
To complain about or point out flaws in something, often in a petty or unreasonable way.
何にでもけちをつける人だ。
He's the kind of person who finds fault with everything.
せっかくの料理にけちをつけないでほしい。
I wish you wouldn't nitpick the food that was carefully prepared.
他人の仕事にけちをつけるのは簡単だが、自分でやるのは難しい。
It's easy to find fault with other people's work, but hard to do it yourself.
2.
to jinx; to put a damper on; to spoil
To cause something to go wrong or bring bad luck to a situation, ruining the mood or outcome.
出発前に雨が降り出して、けちがついた。
It started raining before departure — what a jinx.
せっかくの旅行にけちをつけたくない。
I don't want anything to spoil this trip.
大事な試合の前にケガをして、けちがついてしまった。
Getting injured before the big match put a damper on everything.
An idiomatic expression with two related meanings. The word けち here does not mean "stingy" (its more common standalone meaning) but rather "flaw" or "bad omen."
GRAMMAR:
- Sense 1 (find fault): Xにけちをつける — to find fault with X
- Sense 2 (jinx): けちがつく — bad luck attaches (intransitive); けちをつける — to jinx (transitive)
COMMON PATTERNS:
- 何にでもけちをつける — to find fault with everything
- せっかくの〜にけちをつける — to spoil something that was done with effort
- けちがつく — to be jinxed, to have things go wrong (intransitive variant)
SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS:
- 文句を言う — to complain (more neutral and common)
- いちゃもんをつける — to pick a quarrel, to make unreasonable complaints (more aggressive)
- 難癖をつける — to find fault (formal; implies the complaints are unfair)
REGISTER:
Colloquial. Used in informal speech and writing. Not appropriate for formal contexts.