Zさん:"What is the favorite vegetable of なかいくん and キムタク?"
Aさん:「I don't know, what?」
Zさん:"Smap peas"
Aさん:「... dude, how old are you?」
Sunday, December 11, 2022
野菜の歌
Thursday, December 1, 2022
Listen Carefully...
ピンポン
大学で、女の学生と男の学生は話しています。男の学生は、まず、何をしますか?
Zさん:"AAAAAAGH!"
Bさん:「Are you having the JLPT Listening nightmare again?」
Zさん:"I can't wait until this damn test is over..."
Sunday, November 27, 2022
The Truth At Our Feet
Zさん:"あら。床は汚いね。じゃ、正直しましょう。"
Aさん:「Yeah, I have always thought of you as an honest person.」
Saturday, November 12, 2022
The Awkward Cycle
Zさん:"I recently had to have a conversion with my 洗剤 about some issues。It can be awkward talking to her."
Aさん:「... what, are you a washing machine?」
Saturday, November 5, 2022
Friday, October 28, 2022
Wagyu Beef
Zさん:"You know that Japanese delicacy Wagyu Beef? You know what the literal translation of Wagyu is? 'Japanese Beef'. That's a little on the nose, if you ask me."
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Netflix
Zさん:"When I heard the Netflix so-called 'jingle', I instantly thought of the Japanese word とたん!"
Friday, October 14, 2022
Back to DS9
Friday, September 30, 2022
Friday, September 23, 2022
Friends
Zさん:"Remember that TV show from the late '90s Friends? There was a gay character Susan who was married to another character Carol. It is really rather surprising, for those days, to have such prominent homosexual characters."
Aさん:「スゲエー。」
Zさん:"Carol was too."
Friday, September 16, 2022
変な注文
ウェイトレス:"... so what can I get you?"
Zさん:"I'll have 2 eggs scrambled and some bacon."
ウェイトレス:"and for you?"
Aさん:「目玉やき。」
Zさん:"Grilled eye ball? Ew, what is wrong with you?"
Aさん:「。。。」
Saturday, September 3, 2022
Opportunity
Aさん:「In Chinese, there is a word that means both crisis and opportunity.」
Zさん:"In Japanese, there is a word that means both opportunity and machine."
Aさん:「... what? ...」
Friday, August 26, 2022
The Musician
Aさん:「I was talking to a friend of mine, and he is trying out for first chair oboe in the orchestra.」
Zさん:"So... that's... Oboeの応募?"
Aさん:「。。。」
Friday, August 19, 2022
Squid
Aさん:「I am going to have fried squid legs for dinner. Care to join me?」
Zさん:"I guess so."
Aさん:「僕もげそを愛するよ!食べましょう!」
Sunday, August 14, 2022
JLPT 2022
Zさん:"Registration for JPLT N3 starts Monday! I plan to sign up. How about you?"
Aさん:「um... I'm Japanese.」
Zさん:"Oh right, Japanese people are registered automatically."
Aさん:「。。。?」
Sunday, August 7, 2022
The Truth about Origami
Zさん:"Dude. I just learned: Japanese people use the same kanji in the word for broken bones (骨折) as they do for the art form origami (折り紙). Folding your bones artistically? That is dark!"
Aさん:「Perhaps. But it is also quite the effective mnemonic device. You're never going to forget that.」
Zさん:"Touche... but not my bones..."
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Road and Aisle
Zさん:"If you're like me, you struggle with the Japanese words 通路 and 道路 because they look almost identical. 通路(tsuuro=aisle) 道路(douro=road). Quick tip: the first kanji of tsuuro has a pointy つ at the top, and douro is road spelled backwards."
Aさん:「... and いならまつ is つまらない spelled backwards.」
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Lit Pun
Zさん:"What is your online group for?"
Aさん:「We're taking a survey of whether people know of and have read "The Canterbury Tales".」
Zさん:"... so... it's... Chaucerの調査?"
Saturday, July 16, 2022
There and Back Again
Zさん:"The Japanese word 戻る (modoru) means to return/go back. Kinda sounds like where Frodo Baggins had to... well... return the ring of power."
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Shrug Emoji
_ _
\_(ツ)_/
Aさん:「To me it just looks like a tsu-face.」
Zさん:"You mean like the Batman villain?"
Aさん:「If that helps you.」
Saturday, July 2, 2022
Food Nerd
Zさん:“… it was literally the best deconstructed gyoza I’ve ever eaten.”
Aさん:「Wow, you are quite the foodie!」
Zさん:”Yeah, I like to think of myself as a Gohan Otaku.”
Cさん:「ご飯を炊く?あの、あまりグルメではないかな。。。」
Saturday, June 25, 2022
重ねる
Monday, June 20, 2022
Tripe
Aさん:「What’s tripe?」
Zさん:”Cow’s stomach, it’s delicious! Know why?”
Aさん:「Why?」
Zさん:”「イ」は「ウ」前”
Aさん:「Clever if belabored wordplay…」
Thursday, June 9, 2022
RATS & STAR Trek
Zさん:"Remember that episode of Star Trek: Voyager where Seven of Nine finds a bunch of other Borg types in Unimatrix Zero?"
Aさん:「Sure, what about it?」
Zさん:"夢でもし会えたら、すてきなことね。。。"
Aさん:「Nice...」
Saturday, June 4, 2022
Musician
Zさん:"Check out the kanji for 弾きます。It's like some guy with punky hair holding a bizarre guitar."
Saturday, May 28, 2022
Forward
<Aさん and Zさん are emailing>
Aさん:「Thanks for your help, please forward this email to Cさん。I do not have his email address.」
Zさん:"No problem. Fun Fact: the Japanese phrase Tenso means to Forward email."
Aさん:「... thanks Guinan, I'll have a Synthehol.」
Friday, May 13, 2022
Adjacent Over What?
Saturday, May 7, 2022
Otter
Zさん:"What do you call it when an otter lies about its skin?"
Aさん:「I don't know, what?」
Zさん:"カワウソの皮嘘。"
Aさん:「。。。かわうそつけー。」
Saturday, April 23, 2022
Horses
Aさん:「It was cool to go to the race track today.」
Zさん:"Yeah, it was fun, even if I did lose some money on slow horses."
Aさん:「Yeah. Wanna grab dinner? Craving anything?」
Zさん:"... 今日、蕎麦..."
Aさん:「... I assume you are just being clever and not trying to exact some weird culinary revenge...」
Friday, April 15, 2022
ワイ
Zさん:"ワイ、Japanese people、ワイ...
... は sometimes pronounced as 'wa' ...
... of all the numbers between 1 and 10, only 4 and 7 have two pronunciations ...
... two words for cold, but only one for hot ...
... negative for some adjectives is 'kunai', but 'janai' for others
ワイ。。。"
Friday, April 8, 2022
About Milk
Sunday, April 3, 2022
完了
Zさん:"You know, I think the kanji for 完了 is so named ironically. That second kanji does not look complete at all. It's like the creator gave up half way through."
Saturday, March 26, 2022
Study Diet
Zさん:"Why did the Juku student bite his sneaker?"
Aさん:「I don't know, why?」
Zさん:"Because his teacher said to him, '集中してください'."
Saturday, March 19, 2022
選ぶ
Zさん:"The kanji for 選ぶ makes me smile. It is like it's asking me to choose between its two backwards '5's."
Friday, March 11, 2022
へんなデート
Aさん:「So you're going out on another date with that girl?」
Zさん:"Yup."
Aさん:「It's the third date. Do you think she's, you know, 'game'?」
Zさん:"Definitely, she's so 'game'."
Cさん:「シーソーゲーム?へんなデートかな。」
Monday, January 31, 2022
Family Coral Reef
Zさん:「My grandmother had a sister. That sister married a man named Albert. Albert had a nickname, everyone called him 'Ebby'. Albert had a son, also named Albert. After Albert Jr grew up, he married a woman named 'Connie'...」
Aさん:"Wait... wait... you have family members named Ebby and Connie? Do you also have a wife named Sazae? Brother-in-law Katsuo? Sister-in-law Wakame?"
Zさん:「。。。皆んなが笑ってる。。。」
Friday, January 14, 2022
Ridiculous Word Play
Aさん:「So I was driving down the highway the other day, and this 18-wheeler passed me. I happened to notice, though, that the truck was extremely narrow, more so than a regular truck.」
Zさん:"Awesome. That's a BTP."
Aさん:「?」
Zさん:"Semi は狭い。Bilingual Tautology Pun."
Aさん:「A new form of ridiculous word play. Nice.」