In a game of golf, I might say about your shot, "Ah, that was a lucky shot!" But if you think about this sentence, it is quite clear that it is not the shot that was lucky; it was you that was lucky. I could, in fact, have said, "Ah, lucky you!".

Since "a shot" knows nothing about luck, and certainly cannot experience it, why is it possible to make such an "illogical" statement? And why is it possible to use the same adjective to refer to both the "shot" and to "you"?

If we are walking along a road, I may say:

This is a bumpy road. (これはでこぼこ道だ)

And you might add:

It is also a lonely road. (それは人通りの少ない道でもある)

Although the road is bumpy, it is not really "lonely". We are lonely.

In English, adjectives connected to experiences, feelings, emotions, reactions, etc. we have towards events and things can often be transferred to the event or thing itself. If I feel lonely, I can transfer this feeling of loneliness to the road, so that the road becomes "lonely".

I realize that you can do the same thing in Japanese (e.g., 寂しい道) -- but not necessarily with the same kinds of adjectives.

In the next Column I will give a list of common adjective of emotion + noun combinations.

In the last Column, I discussed some grammar points about what we can call "adjectives of emotion". Continuing from that discussion, a list of these, together with translations, follows below. You will notice that some of these combinations can be translated into rather directly into Japanese (a happy marriage > 幸せな結婚).

a happy marriage（幸せな結婚）
a happy coincidence（うれしい偶然）
a lucky shot（まぐれ当たり）
a fortunate meeting（幸運なめぐり会い）
a gloomy sight（陰鬱な光景）
a joyful reunion（楽しい再会）
a cheerful speech（元気のいい話し方）
a merry Christmas（メリークリスマス）
a wise judgement （賢明な判断）
a foolish request（ばかげた要望）
a kind remark（親切なひとこと）
a tired joke（退屈な冗談）
a considerate decision（思いやりのある決定）
an inconsiderate comment（配慮を欠く発言）
a rude speech（荒っぽい演説）
a lonely life（寂しい生活）

As I said in the previous Column, we can apply the adjective to either the object or event, or to the person.

We have a happy marriage. > We are a happy couple.
私たちは幸せな結婚生活を送っている。> 私たちは幸せな夫婦だ。
This is a gloomy sight. > I have a gloomy feeling.
これは陰鬱な光景だ。> 私は気がふさぎ込んでいる。
You are a wise woman. > You made a wise judgement.
あなたは賢明な女性だ。> あなたは賢い判断をした。

Based on the above list, see to what extent this applies to Japanese (e.g., 幸せな結婚 > 幸せな夫婦).

We can think of "pair expressions" as being of three types in terms of the level of what I will call here "connection":

(1) weak connection:
a pair of birds /dogs /candlesticks /curtains /sentries / statues / trees / aces (i.e., the ace of spades, etc) / pistols/spanners [UK] (wrenches [US]), etc.
(二羽の鳥/二匹の犬/ろうそく立て二本一組/カーテン二張/哨兵二人/銅像二つ/二本の木/二枚の(トランプの)エース/ピストル二丁/スパナ [レンチ] 二本、など)

(2) medium connection:
a pair of shoes / boots /socks / stockings / skis / gloves / mittens / cow's horns / contact lenses / ears / eyes / headphones, etc.
(靴一足/ブーツ一足/靴下一足/ストッキング一足/スキー板一揃/手袋一対/二叉手袋一対/牛の両方の角/コンタクトレンズ一組/両耳/両目/ヘッドフォン一つ、など)

(3) strong connection:
a pair of trousers / jeans / shorts / tights / glasses / sunglasses /goggles / binoculars / scissors / pliers / tongs / tweezers / nail clippers / secateurs [UK] (pruning shears[US]) / forceps / bellows / handcuffs, etc.
(ズボン一着/ジーンズ一着/ショーツ一着/タイツ一着/メガネ一つ/サングラス一つ/ゴーグル一つ/双眼鏡一つ/はさみ一丁/ペンチ一つ/火ばし一本/毛抜き一つ/爪切り一つ/剪定ばさみ一丁/鉗子一本/ふいご一個/手錠一組、など)

In the case of "weak connection", we are talking about items which might rather naturally occur in pairs (such as candlesticks or curtains), but not necessarily so.

In the case of "medium connection", a pair is the natural way to think of the objects, and the objects are usually only fully useful when they occur in pairs, although they can be separated into single items (e.g., a pair of contact lenses > a contact lens), and still be useful to some extent.

In the case of "strong connection", the pair cannot be physically separated, unless we damage or break the item, and it therefore becomes useless.

This way of looking at pair expressions is useful when we look at the grammar of pair expressions, which I will take up in the next Column.