Phrase of the Week: You Have Only Yourself to Blame

“I didn’t do very well on the test.”

“Well, you have only yourself to blame. I know you never studied and stayed up all night playing video games before test day.”

When something goes wrong, people want to know whose fault it is. When something bad happens to someone, but the main cause is a mistake or a bad choice that he himself made, we can say he has only himself to blame.

「テストの結果があまり良くなかった。」

「まあ、責めるなら自分自身を責めなさい。勉強せずにテスト前の夜は徹夜でゲームをしてたでしょう？」

うまくいかないことがある時は、誰のせいなのかを知りたいものです。誰かに悪いことが起こり、主な原因はその人自身の間違いや間違った判断の場合、「自分しか責められない」と言います。