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fencer_xHEY.
So guess what day it is. No cheating and looking at your calendars.
It's FRIDAY.
Who knows what that means? You get three guesses, and the first two don't count. *PLLBT*
First, I feel the need to let all who are curious about The Skirt Incident know that he did indeed notice today, and commented accordingly, that it was back to jeans (hey, it's pretty cool now, and I only have that one skirt, so gimme a break :P), and went on to note that on campus it was a pretty normal thing to see girls in pants and light jackets like I had on today. I asked him about the girls in Japan, and boy did THAT get him started.
We went and sat down, and he started babbling on pretty much about how all the girls (well, he did amend to say MANY) in Japan are snobby bitches who are so self-absorbed an dconcerned with their looks and how much STUFF they have, more than their studies. How they had their Prada, their Gucci, their this and that, how they acted like stuff was all that mattered and that made them better than other people (not THAT different from us, really). This tirade about Japanese girls went on for five-ish minutes--he obviously wanted to make it clear that he didn't like girls like that who were over-concerned with their looks and how much expensive stuff they had :D--until he went off on a tangent about HOW they got that money. First he hypothesized they got it via allowances from their parents, or perhaps from a part-time job (random: did anyone know that the Japanese word for part-time job 'アルバイト'--often shortened to 'バイト'--actually comes from the German word for job, 'arbeits'?), or sometimes through less savory means. And then of course it turned into a discussion on Japanese girls and their SUGAR DADDIES. Well, maybe he didn't exactly call them sugar daddies, but that's what he was describing, and when I tell you what we talked about after that, it will be even funnier that I'm telling you he lowered his voice like he was saying a dirty word when he called them 'prostitutes' in a not-REALLY-prostitutes way.
Because then, he went back to the girls themselves, and said that their obsession with money was, quote: "Bullshit."
I kinda laughed at this, thinking I'd misheard him, and he REPEATED IT. And then said it again after that, and looked to me to make sure I understood him. And THAT led him to SAY OTHER SWEAR WORDS. Thankfully for my wavering ability to contain my laughter, he didn't get much beyond "bullshit", but he did repeat it many times, loudly, along with 'damn,' and I helpfully supplied 'crap.' He learned a new word ♥ Looked it up in his little dictionary and everything. I feel so proud. Then he wondered about the 'levels' of swearing--with "poop" at the top, even though it's not really a swear word, followed by "crap" and "shit/bullshit" at the bottom. I think he belatedly realized that he was swearing quite profusely, even if he didn't mean it, in front of a girl, and kind of apologized, and then asked if bullshit was a word I used a lot. I admitted I didn't use it much, that I preferred "crap" personally :P
This led me to actually ask a question on my OWN! *GASPSHOCK* Yes, I took the initiative, because he'd slipped up a few times and I'd always wondered, so I asked him, "私と話してる場合とほかの日本人と話してる場合はどうちがいますか？" (How are the times you speak with me and the times you speak with other Japanese people different?) In short, I wanted to know what he changed for speaking with me, a stranger, versus people he was more familiar with--since I could feel in his speech that sometimes he'd slip up, and when he claimed there wasn't really any difference, I pressed him on his usage of "私" (watashi, the feminine/polite form of "I").
For those unfamiliar with the language (what're you doing reading this?), 'watashi' is used mostly in two situations: by women (almost always), and by everyone in a formal situation (like he was with me). It's a generic pronoun of politeness, but while women use it all the time, men usually only use it in situations that merit it. So I wondered what he usually used, though I had a good idea since he'd slipped up a few times in conversations past. And he affirmed that when with friends, he did indeed usually use "俺" ('ore', a very masculine word for "I"). Though he did emphasize that he also still used keigo (polite speech) in those situations, so it was something like an oxymoron of sorts, using the very casual 'ore' with a polite verb ending XDDDDD Then of course he wondered why I asked about it, and did I WANT him to use it (oh please, please please please--not that I was that enthusiastic), and I just told him to use whichever he's most comfortable with (please please please use ore, it's so cute, it really is).
Little quirks of speech like that led to us talking about contractions in Japanese and English, like "わたしのうち" becoming "あたしんち" (the original meant "my house" and the second is just a contracted form of it), somewhat akin to out "are not" becoming "aren't" or--and HE gave me this example--in the South, "you all" becoming "y'all".
I never, ever, ever want to hear a hick accent from a Japanese person again.
Ever.
Like, ever ever.
Please.
And then we decided to change tacks again cause we were running out of things to talk about, so he brought up food, and were there any types of food I didn't really like. I tried to save face, I really did, but I had to come clean and admit that...I didn't really like Japanese food. m(__)m FORGIVE ME, TAKASHI! PLEASE! He just laughed at it, though, and I clarified that it was really because I'd never had REAL Japanese food, and he understood this, and actually recommended some places to try--there's apparently an Oriental Market in Bryan? And Korean rice and California rice are apparently the closest things to real Japanese rice this side of the Pacific, he says. Maa, I'll definitely try some if ever I have some before me--I'd be far too embarrassed to do anything BUT eat whatever was in front of me in the presence of another culture's people. YOU KNOW ME. ♥
Bah, conversation OWATTA. Though as wel walked out of the MSC, I did get to teach him a new word--when he asked about my purse (noting that it wasn't a backpack like his, the observant boy), he talked about people carrying around their 'saifu' in it ('wallet'), but wasn't sure that 'wallet' was the right translation for a girl, and I said that girls (at least the ones I know) usually refer to it as a "billfold". I spelled it out for him, and he eventually got the meaning--kind of 'folding' the 'bills' you put in it, HAHA. CRAZY ENGLISH.
We bid each other a tearful adieu...and then met again when we both went different ways to the post office >_<
THEN we said goodbye again (still tearful, sniffsniff). Ok, I'm done.
DONE. HARR.
So guess what day it is. No cheating and looking at your calendars.
It's FRIDAY.
Who knows what that means? You get three guesses, and the first two don't count. *PLLBT*
First, I feel the need to let all who are curious about The Skirt Incident know that he did indeed notice today, and commented accordingly, that it was back to jeans (hey, it's pretty cool now, and I only have that one skirt, so gimme a break :P), and went on to note that on campus it was a pretty normal thing to see girls in pants and light jackets like I had on today. I asked him about the girls in Japan, and boy did THAT get him started.
We went and sat down, and he started babbling on pretty much about how all the girls (well, he did amend to say MANY) in Japan are snobby bitches who are so self-absorbed an dconcerned with their looks and how much STUFF they have, more than their studies. How they had their Prada, their Gucci, their this and that, how they acted like stuff was all that mattered and that made them better than other people (not THAT different from us, really). This tirade about Japanese girls went on for five-ish minutes--he obviously wanted to make it clear that he didn't like girls like that who were over-concerned with their looks and how much expensive stuff they had :D--until he went off on a tangent about HOW they got that money. First he hypothesized they got it via allowances from their parents, or perhaps from a part-time job (random: did anyone know that the Japanese word for part-time job 'アルバイト'--often shortened to 'バイト'--actually comes from the German word for job, 'arbeits'?), or sometimes through less savory means. And then of course it turned into a discussion on Japanese girls and their SUGAR DADDIES. Well, maybe he didn't exactly call them sugar daddies, but that's what he was describing, and when I tell you what we talked about after that, it will be even funnier that I'm telling you he lowered his voice like he was saying a dirty word when he called them 'prostitutes' in a not-REALLY-prostitutes way.
Because then, he went back to the girls themselves, and said that their obsession with money was, quote: "Bullshit."
I kinda laughed at this, thinking I'd misheard him, and he REPEATED IT. And then said it again after that, and looked to me to make sure I understood him. And THAT led him to SAY OTHER SWEAR WORDS. Thankfully for my wavering ability to contain my laughter, he didn't get much beyond "bullshit", but he did repeat it many times, loudly, along with 'damn,' and I helpfully supplied 'crap.' He learned a new word ♥ Looked it up in his little dictionary and everything. I feel so proud. Then he wondered about the 'levels' of swearing--with "poop" at the top, even though it's not really a swear word, followed by "crap" and "shit/bullshit" at the bottom. I think he belatedly realized that he was swearing quite profusely, even if he didn't mean it, in front of a girl, and kind of apologized, and then asked if bullshit was a word I used a lot. I admitted I didn't use it much, that I preferred "crap" personally :P
This led me to actually ask a question on my OWN! *GASPSHOCK* Yes, I took the initiative, because he'd slipped up a few times and I'd always wondered, so I asked him, "私と話してる場合とほかの日本人と話してる場合はどうちがいますか？" (How are the times you speak with me and the times you speak with other Japanese people different?) In short, I wanted to know what he changed for speaking with me, a stranger, versus people he was more familiar with--since I could feel in his speech that sometimes he'd slip up, and when he claimed there wasn't really any difference, I pressed him on his usage of "私" (watashi, the feminine/polite form of "I").
For those unfamiliar with the language (what're you doing reading this?), 'watashi' is used mostly in two situations: by women (almost always), and by everyone in a formal situation (like he was with me). It's a generic pronoun of politeness, but while women use it all the time, men usually only use it in situations that merit it. So I wondered what he usually used, though I had a good idea since he'd slipped up a few times in conversations past. And he affirmed that when with friends, he did indeed usually use "俺" ('ore', a very masculine word for "I"). Though he did emphasize that he also still used keigo (polite speech) in those situations, so it was something like an oxymoron of sorts, using the very casual 'ore' with a polite verb ending XDDDDD Then of course he wondered why I asked about it, and did I WANT him to use it (oh please, please please please--not that I was that enthusiastic), and I just told him to use whichever he's most comfortable with (please please please use ore, it's so cute, it really is).
Little quirks of speech like that led to us talking about contractions in Japanese and English, like "わたしのうち" becoming "あたしんち" (the original meant "my house" and the second is just a contracted form of it), somewhat akin to out "are not" becoming "aren't" or--and HE gave me this example--in the South, "you all" becoming "y'all".
I never, ever, ever want to hear a hick accent from a Japanese person again.
Ever.
Like, ever ever.
Please.
And then we decided to change tacks again cause we were running out of things to talk about, so he brought up food, and were there any types of food I didn't really like. I tried to save face, I really did, but I had to come clean and admit that...I didn't really like Japanese food. m(__)m FORGIVE ME, TAKASHI! PLEASE! He just laughed at it, though, and I clarified that it was really because I'd never had REAL Japanese food, and he understood this, and actually recommended some places to try--there's apparently an Oriental Market in Bryan? And Korean rice and California rice are apparently the closest things to real Japanese rice this side of the Pacific, he says. Maa, I'll definitely try some if ever I have some before me--I'd be far too embarrassed to do anything BUT eat whatever was in front of me in the presence of another culture's people. YOU KNOW ME. ♥
Bah, conversation OWATTA. Though as wel walked out of the MSC, I did get to teach him a new word--when he asked about my purse (noting that it wasn't a backpack like his, the observant boy), he talked about people carrying around their 'saifu' in it ('wallet'), but wasn't sure that 'wallet' was the right translation for a girl, and I said that girls (at least the ones I know) usually refer to it as a "billfold". I spelled it out for him, and he eventually got the meaning--kind of 'folding' the 'bills' you put in it, HAHA. CRAZY ENGLISH.
We bid each other a tearful adieu...and then met again when we both went different ways to the post office >_<
THEN we said goodbye again (still tearful, sniffsniff). Ok, I'm done.
DONE. HARR.
