右みぎへならえ

Meanings

1

expression

dress right!; right dress!

military

A military drill command ordering soldiers to align themselves to the right. Used literally in military contexts.

教きょう官かんが「右みぎへならえ！」と号ごう令れいをかけた。
The instructor gave the command, 'Dress right!'

2

expression, noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb

following suit; uncritical imitation; copying others

Figurative use derived from the military command; describes blindly following what others do, often with a negative connotation of mindless conformity. Commonly used as a noun or with する.

みんながやっているからといって、右みぎへならえで同おなじことをするのはよくない。
Just because everyone else is doing it, it's not good to follow suit and do the same thing.
彼かれはいつも右みぎへならえで、自じ分ぶんの意い見けんを持もたない。
He always just copies others and never has his own opinion.

Written forms

右みぎへならえ
Standard kana-mixed spelling; the most common written form for both the military command and the figurative sense.
右みぎへ倣ならえ
Kanji spelling using 倣える (to imitate); emphasizes the figurative meaning but is less common than the kana-mixed form.
右みぎへ習ならえ
irregular kanji usage
Irregular kanji usage; 習う normally means 'to learn', making this spelling non-standard and rarely seen.

Kanji

右right
倣emulate, imitate
習learn

Similar words

付ふ和わ雷らい同どう
A four-character idiom meaning 'following others blindly'; more formal and literary than 右へならえ, which is a colloquial expression.
横よこ並ならび
Means 'lining up horizontally' or 'keeping in step with others'; often used in business contexts to describe companies adopting the same practices, but lacks the explicit military origin of 右へならえ.

Etymology

Originally a military drill command meaning 'dress right'. The figurative sense of 'blindly following others' developed from the image of soldiers mechanically aligning themselves to the right.