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Learning through examples in manga

A picked-up earring with イヤリング

Vocabulary Explanation: イヤリング vs ピアス

Manga panel from 俺物語!! showing example of A picked-up earring with イヤリング.
俺物語!! » Volume 4 » Page 92

Takeo runs after a mother and her child to give them a shoe they dropped. Due to Takeo’s large size and loud steps, the mother and child get frightened and run from him. After he manages to return the dropped item, Takeo returns to his friends.

Rinko remarks that the scene was like “A Bear in the Forest”. Sunakawa recalls the song.

砂川(すなかわ):
「あーイヤリング拾(ひろ)って追(お)いかけるやつね」
“Ah, the one who picked up an earring and chased after.”
猛男(たけお):
「そうか　熊(くま)だと思(おも)われたのか」
“I see. It's that I was thought of as a bear?”

Key Points

  1. イヤリング = “clip-on earring” (no piercing needed)

    • イヤリング refers to clip-on earrings that attach without piercing the ear.

    • Contrast this with ピアス, which are pierced earrings (requiring an ear piercing).

    • In this scene, Sunakawa is recalling the song 「森(もり)のくまさん」 (A Bear in the Forest), where a bear picks up a dropped earring.

  2. 拾(ひろ)って追(お)いかける = “pick it up and chase after [someone]”

    • 拾(ひろ)って here is the て-form of 拾(ひろ)う, linking two actions together: “pick up the earring and chase after…”

    • This is not a quotation って; it is just the spoken て-form inside a casual descriptive phrase.

    • The subject and object are omitted because they are already understood from the song: “the one where he / the bear picks up the earring and chases after her.”

  3. やつね = “the one where… / the one who…” (casual shared reference)

    • やつ is a casual way to say “one / guy / thing”, and here it means “the one” from the song they both know.

    • [description] + やつ is a very common spoken pattern for identifying someone or something by what they do.

    • ね shows confirmation or recognition: Sunakawa is basically saying, “Ah, you mean the one where he picks up the earring and runs after her.”

See Also