「尻に敷く」人は誰？

Title：「尻に敷く」人は誰？

There is an English expression to describe the dominant member of a family or the dominant person in a relationship. We say that person, “wears the pants.”

The phrase came from a time when men typically were the leaders of a house and when women usually wore dresses, not pants.

In my family when I was younger, my father “wore the pants.” Whenever a big decision needed to be made, my father was the one who made it. My mother made many everyday decisions but in the end, it was always my father who made final decisions and the person in charge of discipline.

I think it is safe to say that regarding discipline, all of my brothers and sisters feared my father. At times, my mother was strict but she usually was softhearted and understanding. However, my father was quite the opposite: when I did something wrong, I knew that my father would discipline me.

Now that I am married, I try to have a marriage that is equal—where both my wife and I make decisions based on our best interests. It sometimes works and sometimes fails but we do the best we can!

So, who wears that pants in your family or in your relationship? And when you were younger, who wore that pants in your family?

I will look forward to speaking to you about your answers this week.

Keith//

This week’s vocabulary:

expression
言い回し

describe
表現する

dominant
権力を持つ

wears the pants
「尻に敷く」

a time when...
...の時代

typically
通常は

in the end
最後は

in charge of
〜を任されている（管理している）

discipline
躾

it is safe to say...
...と言ったほう無難である

fear (someone or something)
恐れる

strict
厳しい

softhearted
やさしい

understanding
理解ある

quite the opposite
全く正反対

based on our best interests
お互いにとって一番利になることを基本にして

we do the best we can
お互いにベストを尽くす