Helen Ramsay <r@hotmail.com> wrote:

> > > > "Hen"? You calling me "hen"?
> > >
> > > It's a term of endearment.
> >
> > Thought it might, but wasn't sure. I'm getting used to skirting around
> > cross-lingual misunderstandings. (A coupla nights ago, in an online
> > chat, someone with a Chinese-looking name said I was on his blacklist...
> > Turned out he thought "blacklist" was a positive thing to have.)
> 
> We even have problems on scs with our American subscribers. It's well put
> in this expression 'two nations divided by a common language' or words to
> that effect:)

Yup--an American woman and I turned up late together at the meeting
place we'd arranged before going on to a party. As we caught sight of
the others waiting for us, she said "Oh no, they look pissed" then
looked puzzled when I asked how she could tell from that distance. 

> >
> > "Hen" could be many things in Japanese, but one of them is "strange", as
> > in *hen na gaijin* ("weird foreigner"), you see. Admittedly it'd be odd
> > to use it as a noun....
> 
> Hmmm ... are you calling me a 'weird foreigner'? :) 

No, no--for the teeniest instant, I thought that you were calling me
that.

________________________________________________________________________
                   Louise Bremner (log at gol dot com)
   If you want a reply by e-mail, don't write to my Yahoo address!