August 23, 2007

• RYCs to GM and GCF

  Kumo could be spider or cloud, depending on the context.  I don't know about all those accents and things, and don't really worry about them.  Anyway, words are pronounced with all kinds of accents in different parts of the country.  I have heard Japanese teasing each other about whether a word rises or falls.  In Tokyo isu (chair) goes up and in Hokkaido it apparently goes down.  In Kagoshima everything goes up after it is chopped off.  A standard hyoujungo mouse is a nezumi, but a mouse in Kagoshima is a nezun.  Worse yet, a standard goki-chan roach becomes an amame.  Can't catch the drift when the old folks get together. 

  If I see stupid high school girls with rolled up skirts on the escalator I might tell them "Mieru yo!!"  but in Kagoshima I would say "Miyuddo!"  And you don't usumeru a drink by adding some form of H2O in Kagoshima, you umeru it.

  Bear is kuma, so that solves your problem as to whether that web belongs to a four legged or eight legged beastie.

  Atsui - hot as in outside, as in fever, as in thick and there are probably more.  These are all written with a different kanji, and again, I just don't worry about the pronuciation.  People tell me that I don't really have an accent, so I must be winging it all right. 

  I think it interesting that certain word groups are similar.  Kusai is stink, kusaru is to rot and kuso is poop.  Ku seems to begin something nasty.  There is a kind of fermented fish called kusaya, the name of which sums it all up.  Some reporter went to a kusaya maker for an interview, and the poor fellow could not stop gagging.  Very funny.  In Tokyo this fish dish would be "umaku nai" (girls have to say oishiku nai as umai is a masculine word) but in Kagoshima it would be "umonaka."  Nai often becomes naka in Kyushu.  You might find that info useful sometime. 

  This past weekend I notice that ka may be be for itchy things.  Kayui is itchy and ka is mosquito...  There is probably a connection between the words.  Kaku is to scratch an itch.  Lousy bedbug nankinmushime.  Putting "me" on the end of something is derogatory.

  You know what drives me batty?  When you pay with exact change, the young people at the cash registers hand me a receipt and say "Reshiito no okaeshi desu."  No, no no!!  Okaeshi is change as in money, and it is kaesued (returned) because it is mine and I had it in the first place, and it naturally returns to me.  I didn't have the receipt to begin with, it is not change and they are not returning it to me.  It is mistake to say that a receipt is okaeshi, and anyone over forty understands my point right away and agrees with it, but all I get is funny looks when I try to explain this to the youngster at the cash register.  Okashi wa okane desu yo!!

  I had another girl counting the money that I gave her, and she said "Go-kakunin shimasu."  No, you cannot use respect language to yourself, but this pyt didn't know the difference between respect and humble language and thought she was being polite.  If she wants to say go-kakunin shite kudasai to me, that is nice, but to herself she should say, kakunin itashimasu.  You will learn all these.  The worst idiocy I have heard is when I went to pick up a watch and the lady told me to get it at the other counter.  Achira de moratte itadaite kudasai.  You always direct itadaku (humbly receive) at yourself and never towards another person.  It is just plain wrong.

  I have also corrected the Japanese of my students when they refer to their parents as okaasan and otoosan.  Kidz, those terms are for the parents of others, yours are haha and chichi.  If I don't tell 'em, who will? 

  Fukuoka is about the same size as Okayama, much smaller than Tokyo.  I should check out facts and figgers about the populace.  Hub is homesick and coming in to Tokyo, and I am supposed to meet him in Shinjuku at one so we can "go somewhere."  Probably a museum.  Beach pictures following.

  

  From Fukuoka Tower

  

  Let's zoom in a bit.  Hey, no crowds!!

  

  Weddings are held here.

  

  From the ground

  

  I am bringing my bathing suit next time.  What is "thar she blows" in Japanese?

  • 22:40
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