# いらっしゃい！



## lammn

I know that いらっしゃい is the imperative form いらっしゃる, but there is a scene in the J-drama 「サラリーマン金太郎」that I don't really understand its usage.

In that scene, a landslide occurred in the worksite of Yamato Construction. Four workers were buried under the debris. When Kintarou and other workers have digged out all the four burried workers and they were all alive, they(the rescuers) were very glad and cried いらっしゃい！to each other.

What does いらっしゃい in this context means? Does it mean "I am glad you are here (alive)"?

Thanks for any help!


----------



## samealwang

いらっしゃい 
always means welcome in japanese, and when a husband arrive at the house from work, his wife will say to him"いらっしゃい" welcome to home again.


----------



## lammn

That's the ordinary greetings said by a waiter/shopkeeper to his customer upon his visit, not by a wife to her husband.
It also does not fit the context I mentioned in my previous post.


----------



## samealwang

or いらっしゃる is the other form of　いる=(they are here).


----------



## lammn

I _know _that いらっしゃい is the 尊敬語 of 行け、来い or 居ろ.
I just wonder why it is used in the situation I mentioned.

As I have said, I wonder if it means "I am glad that you are here".
Can any native speaker confirm please?


----------



## Wishfull

samealwang said:


> いらっしゃい
> always means welcome in japanese, and when a husband arrive at the house from work, his wife will say to him"いらっしゃい" welcome to home again.


 
Sorry, but I don't think so.
His wife will never say to him that.
She will say "おかえりなさい”.

If he goes to _another wife_, she might say "いらっしゃい”.


----------



## Wishfull

lammn said:


> I know that いらっしゃい is the imperative form いらっしゃる, but there is a scene in the J-drama 「サラリーマン金太郎」that I don't really understand its usage.
> 
> In that scene, a landslide occurred in the worksite of Yamato Construction. Four workers were buried under the debris. When Kintarou and other workers have digged out all the four burried workers and they were all alive, they(the rescuers) were very glad and cried いらっしゃい！to each other.
> 
> What does いらっしゃい in this context means? Does it mean "I am glad you are here (alive)"?
> 
> Thanks for any help!


 
Hi.
Interesting question! Your feeling is right. It may be odd word in this context.

If I were the rescuers, I would not use いらっしゃい.
If I hear them say "いらっしゃい”, I might think they are not native Japanese speakers, and they chose the wrong greeting expression by mistake.

BUT I could interpret why they say so.

いらっしゃい is greeting expression when a visitor comes to you.
We are waiting for the arrival of the visitor, and at last the visitor comes, we say “いらっしゃい” to him. Sometimes it has the meaning of "welcome", “thank you for coming” or "I'm looking forward to seeing you."
Do you understand?
In this context, the four workers were patiently waiting for the rescuers (visitors) to come and rescue them.
At last, the visitors(rescuers) came to them, so they say “いらっしゃい“.
Meaning, the four workers believed that the visitor (rescuers) would come and save their lives.”
Usually they didn’t say “いらっしゃい“、They said “thank you very much” or something.

Vice versa. The rescures were looking for the four workers. Finally the four appears to them, and fortunately enough, they were alive!! So they use いらっしゃい.

いらっしゃい　is indirect expression of their thanks. It might be figurative. It might be poetic expression. I don’t know the linguistic term, but the writer used it for a special purpose. Do you understand what I wanted to say?

So,
*Does it mean "I am glad you are here (alive)"?----Yes! I think so.*
It also means "At last, I can see you", "welcome", "thank you for rescuing us", "I'm waiting for you for a long time" etc.


----------



## lammn

Wishfull said:


> If he goes to _another wife_, she might say "いらっしゃい”.


 
（爆笑）



Wishfull said:


> Interesting question! Your feeling is right. It may be odd word in this context.


I am glad that I am not the only person who thinks the usage of いらっしゃいis odd in this context.
Perhaps many odd words are used in that drama because it is adapted from a manga.




Wishfull said:


> If I were the rescuers, I would not use いらっしゃい. If I hear them say "いらっしゃい”, I might think they are not native Japanese speakers, and they chose the wrong greeting expression by mistake.


What would be said by the rescuers in normal situation?



Wishfull said:


> In this context, the four workers were patiently waiting for the rescuers (visitors) to come and rescue them.
> At last, the visitors(rescuers) came to them, so they say “いらっしゃい“.


I am sorry. I didn't explain the scene very carefully.
The four workers didn't say anything because they were a bit suffocated. It is the rescurers who said いらっしゃい to each other.



Wishfull said:


> Vice versa. The rescures were looking for the four workers. Finally the four appears to them, and fortunately enough, they were alive!! So they use いらっしゃい...
> 
> So,
> *Does it mean "I am glad you are here (alive)"?----Yes! I think so.*
> It also means "At last, I can see you", "welcome"...


Thank you very much for your detailed explanation, Wishfull!
I've got the whole idea now.


----------



## Wishfull

lammn said:


> （What would be said by the rescuers in normal situation?


 
I would say;
おい、大丈夫か？けがはないか？　or
山田（his name)か？大丈夫だったか？　or
大丈夫ですか？良かった良かった。　etc.

This might be against the rule.)
I liked 本宮ひろ志's works when I was a teenager. It had a lot of ambition.
But I don't read them now.
I think his works sometimes seems very *cheap*.
I don't like this "いらっしゃい” kind of expression at all.
It is very cheap even for a fiction anime.
I add this for the purpose of your understanding how a native Japanese feels about that expression.
I don't know how other natives feel.


----------



## lammn

Okay, thanks a lot!


----------

