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Meaning

to fudge the numbers

To give a number as higher or lower than it really is, to suit oneself. Often used about age.

Example

プロフィールの年齢を三つ鯖を読んでいた。

They had fudged the age on their profile by three years.

Origin

There are several theories. One says it is a contraction of isaba-yomi (魚市読み), the rapid counting of small fish at fish markets. Others say it comes from workers cheating when counting large numbers of mackerel, from mackerel spoiling quickly and being sold in a hurry so the counting was sloppy, or from the practice of counting two sashisaba (salted split mackerel) laid one on top of the other as a single unit. An example already appears in a dangibon (comic sermon book) from 1753.

Sources