Path: ccsf.homeunix.org!ccsf.homeunix.org!news1.wakwak.com!nf1.xephion.ne.jp!onion.ish.org!onodera-news!newsfeed.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp!headwall.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: ken_nicolson@hotmail.com (Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson) Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: Gaigins pointing-to-the-nose-watashi thing Date: 6 Oct 2003 17:15:15 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lines: 27 Message-ID: <6afefaef.0310061615.6b39dc8f@posting.google.com> References: <6afefaef.0310052039.71fe54a6@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 202.228.229.71 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1065485715 6336 127.0.0.1 (7 Oct 2003 00:15:15 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 00:15:15 +0000 (UTC) Xref: ccsf.homeunix.org fj.life.in-japan:6094 "Dave Fossett" wrote in message news:... > Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson wrote: > > > I'm yet to progress to the um-ing and aw-ing in Japanese phase, so I > > don't know if it naturally follows, but I know a couple of gaigin who > > regularly point to the nose, rather than to the chest, to indicate > > "self". To me it always looks like a forced gesture, but I've never > > actually asked the people who do it if it's natural or not, just in > > case they get offended or something. I'm no psychologist or whatever, > > but I would think that it must be forced. What do you lot think? > > I'd agree with what 2-belo wrote. I'm pretty sure I point to my face rather > than my chest, but it's not really something you think about consciously. Ahh, I see now - one of the people was a long-time inmate of these isles, but the other was fresh off the boat, so perhaps only one was natural. > You mean to say you don't bow when you talk on the phone? Heh, I would do that in English - well, at least nod - as I talked long before I ever set foot in Japan. Actually, last night I was phoning my brother's office back in Scotland, and I said "gomen" to the receptionist at one point... Ken