Sunday, February 4, 2007

Hilarious students, part 1

So here's something...

As it turns out, talking to Japanese people all day can yield some pretty funny statements. Most of the time the humor comes from obvious engrishness or funny misconceptions, but occasionally you'll get either a genuinely funny student, or an oddball circumstance. A little info: salaryman is Japanglish for businessman... it's actually derived from the English words salary and man, though I have never heard of anyone actually saying that in English (has anyone?) It's a blanket term- almost everybody with an office job will refer to themselves as such and only under pressure try to explain what they actually do with their time. Despite my best efforts, some of my students' day to day going ons are still pretty mysterious. Anyway, here's a funny dialogue from the other day's lesson about managing your finances.

me: what do you do with the money you earn at work?
salaryman: I don't know.
me: ???
salaryman: I just give it to my wife.
me: oh I see.
me:...
me: do you have any credit cards?
salaryman: yes, I have 14, plus one secret.
me: secret card?
salaryman: yes, for things I don't want to explain to my wife.
me: (brushing the obvious creepiness off) ahhh, I see... hahahaha, like golf clubs!
me:...
me: So what would you do if you won a million dollars right now?
salaryman: I would give it to my family... and then leave!
me: ...[wow]

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