"John Yamamoto-Wilson" <j-yamamo@sophia.ac.jp> wrote:

>I wrote:
>
>> > my child is as much Japanese as British
>
>Kevin Gowen commented:
>
>> Somewhere, a dentist is dreaming of a vacation home and a new boat.
>
>I must be getting dense in my old age, but I cannot make head nor tail of
>Kevin's reply.

The British and Japanese are well known for their conceitedness.
Unlike their American counterparts they spend vast sums of money
investing in dental engineering to shuffle their teeth around so as to
correct natures imperfections.
Given this premise a person of mixed culture (UK/JP) would consider
tooth rearrangement as prime importance involving huge expenditure in
tooth haulage. Hence, the reference to the acquisitive dentist!

Alternatively, it could be that Kevin is confused.  In attempting to
exploit racial stereotypes (how noble) in American eyes - that British
and Japanese have bad teeth. But instead is inadvertantly (and
unfortunately) reinforcing another stereotype - that Americans are
vain, stupid and don't understand irony.