妻：今日の観劇、このドレスでどうかしら。
夫：ちょっと派手じゃない？人目につくと困るなあ。会社さぼった
んだよ。
Hitome ni tsuku
Tsuma: Kyoo no kangeki, kono doresu de doo kashira.
Otto: Chotto hade janai? Hitome ni tsuku to komaru naa. Kaisha
sabottan da yo.
Wife: Do you think this dress will be all right for the theater tonight?
Husband: It's a bit loud, isn't it? I don't want to stand out too much. I'm skipping work for this, you know.
Hitome ni tsuku means to stand out from the crowd.
There are times nowadays when standing out from the crowd can be a good thing. However the idea behind this expression is that it can often do you more trouble than good.
Typical examples that spring to mind are sentences like Konna tokoro ni iru to, hitome ni tsuku kara betsu no basho ni ikoo (We will stick out like a sore thumb here. Let's go somewhere else), and Hitome ni tsukanai yoo ni kite kudasai (Try not to make it too obvious when you come).
At the moment I'm reading the Manyooshuu, the oldest collection of poems in the Japanese language. At that time it was common for a man who was courting a woman to visit her after dark, spend the night with her, and then return home before it got light again.
However, there was one particular nobleman who just would not go home, and there is a famous poem in which his lover chides him with the words "Sonna koto wo sum to hitome ni tsuite shimai masu (If you carry on like that, youTl make yourself very conspicuous)." In reply to this he tells her, regardless of their society's custom and conventions, "I cannot live without you." I thought it was interesting that it is the woman who is concerned about what other people will think, and the man who doesn't seem to care. He tries to win her over with the words "Hitome ni tsuita tokoro de, tide wa ari masen ka (Who cares if we're noticed?) It's not as if we're doing anything wrong. "
It's quite a different situation from that in the dialogue above. Perhaps it's obvious that someone skipping work to go to the theater would want to avoid people's attention (hitome wo sakeru).