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Kimpatsu
13th October 2001, 07:15
Hi, all.
Pursuant to a thread in the Bad Budo section, I've decided to post this as a challenge/question. I'm just throwing it out there to see what sort of responses, if any, I get.
Has anyone made a cultural or linguistic gaffe when interacting with the Japanese? I don't mean forgetting to remove your shoes when you visit a Japanese home for the first time ever; I think we've all done that. I mean somethng either cringeworthingly embarrassing, or rib-ticklingly funny.
To start the ball rolling, I offer my own humble contribution to the mission of deepening cultural misunderstanding:
As a student at Kyoto University, an Australian fellow student and I were talking to some Japanese professors, and the Aussie remarked tha, being February, the Sydney Carnival was held at this time of year (it being summer in the southern hemisphere). When asked what the carnival entailed, he replied that people mingled chaotically in an atmosphere of revelry. Now, he knew that chaos was "ran", and he knew of words like "kosai" ("date") and "koryu" exchnage, so he put them together to create the compound word "ranko", and then added "party" ("pa-ti-" in Japanese) to emphasise the Bacchanalian atmosphere. One of the female professors turned red, and another started giggling behind her hands. "Ranko pa-ti-" is Japanese for an orgy.
They were very understanding about the gaffe, though, probably because they're language teachers, and know the pitfalls.
I'm waiting for your stories... :karatekid