Merely by shaking hands with 握手
Kanji Explanation: Gripping and control with 握
Shin’ichi treats Ran to a day at Tropical Land as a reward for winning the city karate tournament. As they wait in line for a ride on the roller coaster, Shin’ichi explains all the reasons why Sherlock Holmes was the greatest detective.
- 新一:
- 「助手のワトソンに初めて会った時、握手しただけで、彼が軍医でアフガンに行ってた事を見抜いてしまったんだ…」
- “The first time he met his assistant Watson, Holmes could tell just from a handshake that he was a military doctor who had been stationed in Afghanistan...”
- Literal: “When he first met his assistant Watson, just by shaking hands, he saw through the fact that he was a military doctor and had gone to Afghanistan...”
- “The first time he met his assistant Watson, Holmes could tell just from a handshake that he was a military doctor who had been stationed in Afghanistan...”
Key Points
1握手しただけで = just by shaking hands
- 握手 is the noun “handshake”; adding した makes it the completed action “shook hands”.
- だけで means that this one action alone was enough as the basis for Holmes’s deduction.
2The long 事を phrase is what Holmes saw through
- 彼が軍医でアフガンに行ってた事 means “the fact that he was a military doctor and had been to Afghanistan”.
- 事を turns that whole statement into the object of 見抜いてしまった.
3行ってた and 見抜いてしまった are casual narration
- 行ってた is the spoken contraction of 行っていた, “had gone”.
- 見抜く means to see through something and discern the truth; 〜てしまったんだ presents the deduction as already completed and a bit impressive.
See Also
- Kanji: Hands and skill with 手
名探偵コナン © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.