Zさん："Whoa! The car in front of us stopped and we almost crashed into it. Luckily, your car has those new computer sensors and could stop automatically."
Aさん：「Not exactly. I just stepped on the breaks in time. 」
Zさん："... no, I think the car stopped automatically. 車がとまる。"
Aさん：「I disagree. 私は車をとめる。」
Zさん："You say とめる and I say とまる."
Aさん：「I say とめる and you say とまる.」
Zさん："とめる"
Aさん：「とまる」
Zさん："とめる"
Aさん：「とまる」
Zさん："レツコールザホールシングオフ。"
Aさん：「。。。What?」
Z-san explains: "If you are familiar with the song 'Let's Call the Whole Thing Off' (originally from the movie 1937 movie 'Shall We Dance'), this will make sense. Some of the lyrics are:
ReplyDelete'You say potato and I say potahto. You say tomato and I say tomahto'.
In this post, A-san and I have a similar conversation, but instead of vegetables, we argue about the active and passive forms of the verb to 'stop'."