flonnebonne (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
flonnebonne) wrote2007-05-30 09:57 pm
flonnebonne) wrote2007-05-30 09:57 pm
SILEC strikes again
So my adult students and I were talking about fugu, the infamous pufferfish that can kill you if you eat the wrong bits. The internal organs are chock-full of poison. One of my students had something interesting to say about that:
Female farmer: Hm, the poison is from the ransou.
Me: Huh?
Male doctor: (checks e-dictionary) Ovary.
Me: Oh, so only female fish are poisonous.
Female farmer: Yes. (raises arms) I have ovary! And Yumiko-san too. (then points to male students) Not them.
Me: I have it too!
Female farmer: But I'm not poison.
Feminist statement yo.
As a sidenote, my family once caught pufferfish while we were fishing in the Philippines. But we threw the suckers back, since we aren't stupid.
Another interesting cultural tidbit I learned tonight:
Me: How often do people change their tatami mats?
Tatami maker: I tell my customers to change them about every 4 to 6 years, but they usually wait 10 years or more.
Me: It's the same with carpets back home. Most people never change them.
Tatami maker: Ms. Stephanie, do you want tatami for your apartment? So you can have a Japanese experience?
Me: You're a salesman tonight, aren't you.
Tatami maker: New tatami have a nice smell. Did you know, Japanese men like to change to new wife and new tatami?
Me: You mean at the same time?
Tatami maker: Yes.
Me: That's horrible! (everyone laughs)
Tatami maker: But it's very expensive.
Me: Oh yes, your tatami are very expensive.
Tatami maker: No, not the tatami. The new wife.
Me: Because of the wedding?
Tatami maker: Not the wedding.
It turns out he was talking about the palimony money. Hm, score one for feminism again, except not at all, really. Oh, Japan.
Female farmer: Hm, the poison is from the ransou.
Me: Huh?
Male doctor: (checks e-dictionary) Ovary.
Me: Oh, so only female fish are poisonous.
Female farmer: Yes. (raises arms) I have ovary! And Yumiko-san too. (then points to male students) Not them.
Me: I have it too!
Female farmer: But I'm not poison.
Feminist statement yo.
As a sidenote, my family once caught pufferfish while we were fishing in the Philippines. But we threw the suckers back, since we aren't stupid.
* * *
Another interesting cultural tidbit I learned tonight:
Me: How often do people change their tatami mats?
Tatami maker: I tell my customers to change them about every 4 to 6 years, but they usually wait 10 years or more.
Me: It's the same with carpets back home. Most people never change them.
Tatami maker: Ms. Stephanie, do you want tatami for your apartment? So you can have a Japanese experience?
Me: You're a salesman tonight, aren't you.
Tatami maker: New tatami have a nice smell. Did you know, Japanese men like to change to new wife and new tatami?
Me: You mean at the same time?
Tatami maker: Yes.
Me: That's horrible! (everyone laughs)
Tatami maker: But it's very expensive.
Me: Oh yes, your tatami are very expensive.
Tatami maker: No, not the tatami. The new wife.
Me: Because of the wedding?
Tatami maker: Not the wedding.
It turns out he was talking about the palimony money. Hm, score one for feminism again, except not at all, really. Oh, Japan.