Tuesday, October 04, 2005
OK, now that I've collected the dry cleaning and settled down with a cup of tea, I've thought of something that happened the other day. Maybe not that witty but I'm getting desperate here.
I went into a convenience store on the way home, wanting to send a fax. I couldn't see the required machine so I asked the girl behind the counter if they had a fax machine (in what I'd hope was adequate Japanese). She looked at me blankly for a second, then reached behind her, produced a pack of cigarettes and showed it to me with a quizzical expression on her face. Fax machine -> cigarettes? It left me wondering if perhaps Japan has adopted the British-English slang as the casual word for tobacco...
I went into a convenience store on the way home, wanting to send a fax. I couldn't see the required machine so I asked the girl behind the counter if they had a fax machine (in what I'd hope was adequate Japanese). She looked at me blankly for a second, then reached behind her, produced a pack of cigarettes and showed it to me with a quizzical expression on her face. Fax machine -> cigarettes? It left me wondering if perhaps Japan has adopted the British-English slang as the casual word for tobacco...
# posted by Phil T : 2:15 am
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...nice story, Phil! If you'd wanted to buy "fags" would she have offered you the fax machine in a bag, I wonder?
SJT
SJT
# posted by 
: 3:51 am
: 3:51 am
The story made me laugh a lot but yeah I bet these kind of things happen to non-Oriental people sometimes (maybe quite often).
Did you say "Sumimasen(=excuse me)" or any other Japanese before you mentioned fax machine?
(we usually say "fax", not "fax machine". This could be a big problem for her.)
Did you say "Sumimasen(=excuse me)" or any other Japanese before you mentioned fax machine?
(we usually say "fax", not "fax machine". This could be a big problem for her.)
# posted by : 11:58 pm
: 11:58 pm
I think I said sumimasen, I usually try to be polite...but maybe not this time...also I said fax only.
Maybe something like "(sumimasen) fakkusu wa arimasen ka?" because I thought they didn't have one. If I didn't say sumimasen I suppose I could have caught her by surprise (although I did repeat it a few times after!)
Maybe the problem was not speaking loudly enough - fine mum, I admit you were right, I should speak up a bit more...
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Maybe something like "(sumimasen) fakkusu wa arimasen ka?" because I thought they didn't have one. If I didn't say sumimasen I suppose I could have caught her by surprise (although I did repeat it a few times after!)
Maybe the problem was not speaking loudly enough - fine mum, I admit you were right, I should speak up a bit more...
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