よしなし事ごと

Meanings

Refers to idle talk, pointless matters, or trivial things not worth serious attention. Often used in the phrase よしなし事を言う (to talk nonsense).

彼かれはいつもよしなし事ごとばかり言いっている。
He is always talking nonsense.
会かい議ぎではよしなし事ごとに時じ間かんを費ついやしてしまった。
We wasted time on trivial matters in the meeting.

Kanji

事matter, thing, fact
由wherefore, a reason
無nothingness, none, ain't

Related words

たわ言ごと
たわ言 is more strongly 'nonsense' or 'rubbish', often implying foolishness, while よしなし事 is milder, closer to 'idle talk' or 'trivial things'.
つまらないこと
つまらないこと is a more common and general expression for 'trivial thing', while よしなし事 has a slightly literary or old-fashioned flavor.

Written forms

よしなし事ごと
Standard kanji-kana mixed spelling; the most common written form.
由よし無なし事ごと
Literary kanji spelling using 由; rarely used in modern writing.
由よしなし事ごと
Variant literary kanji spelling; rarely used in modern writing.

Etymology

From よしなし (meaningless, trivial) + 事 (thing). The exact historical derivation of よしなし is uncertain, but it is a classical Japanese adjective meaning 'without reason' or 'pointless'.