佐々木：昨日、サッカーを観戦したんですよ．
佐藤：でも、昨日は雨だったでしょう。
佐々木：手に汗握る試合で、雨のことなんか
忘れていましたよ。
Te ni ase nigiru
Sasaki: Kinoo, sakkaa wo kansen shitan desu yo.
Sato: Demo, kinoo wa ame datta deshoo.
Sasaki: Te ni ase nigiru shiai de, ame no koto nanka
wasure te imashita yo.
Sasaki: I went to see a soccer match yesterday.
Sato: But it was raining yesterday, wasn't it?
Sasaki: It was such an exciting game that I was com-
pletely oblivious to the rain.
Te ni ase nigiru means to become so engrossed in and excited by something that your hands begin to sweat.
There are two kinds of sweat one you lose when it is hot and the other you lose in reaction to psychological stimuli- when you are ebullient about something or when you are in deep trouble or scared toy something, for example.
There are also differences in the parts of the body you perspire from. People sweat on the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet because of psychological reasons, but not because of high temperature.
Other expressions that include the word ase (sweat) are abura-ase wo kaku (break out in a greasy sweat) as someone in great pain might do and hiya-ase wo kaku (break into a cold sweat) when someone is nervous about something oris being kept in suspense.
I went along to see a professional soccer game recently. Despite the heavy rairi, the stands were packed with spectators, all with their umbrellas up and raincoats on. The players were running back and forth on the mud-covered pitch.
The moment someone went for goal omowazu te ni ase wo nigitte shimatta (me palms of my hands began to sweat without my realizing). And whenever a player scored a goal, the spectators leapt to their feet with loud cheers of support A friend of mine said, Yakyuu to chigatte, te ni ase wo nigint yoo na bamen ga nan-kai mo aru deshoo (Unlike baseball,' there are so many points where you're on the edge of your seat, don't you think?) And I agree: In baseball only a few players follow the ball at any one time where- as in soccer everyone is con- stantly repositioning themselves. That makes a soccer match more thrilling to watch.