Somehow, the universe is sending me a message

[elfs]

This morning, as I was walking to the bus stop on my way to work, I spotted something colorful in the bushes by the road and fished it out. It was a tarot card, The Page of Pentacles (the Mary Hanson-Roberts' colored edition of the Rider-Waite classical; how sad is it that I knew that?). The card shows signs of sun and weather damage; it's been out for at least a day or two.

The Page of Pentacles, when presented to you is often a messenger of material opportunity, the chance for great financial reward. When presented as you, the Page of Pentacles is often a moody, unsure character, representing the initial taking of responsibility for one's life and well-being.

It's probably only a coincidence that I use the Page of Pentacles as my signifier.

At the transfer station downtown in front of the museum, I sat next to this cute black guy who was doing his homework. I leaned over and said, "chotto means 'wait', not 'shut up'."

He looked at the page for a moment, then said, "Don't you think in this conversation he's saying 'shut up'?"

I read the rest of the sentence. "I suppose it could mean that, but it's not a proper translation. What would your sensei think?"

"Sensei would think you're right," he said.

It's been a day like that. This morning, one of my co-workers wore a t-shirt I've seen a thousand times before. It has a picture of a train and some Japanese under it. Today, I discovered I could read it. It says, "I am an idiot American." And I'm listening to a live recording of Morning Musume in concert and I'm actually understanding what they're saying to the audience between songs. Of course, it's contextual. When the singer shouts, "Minna wa, do desu ka!?", it's the same thing Ozzy shouts at the beginning of his concerts: "How are you all doing!?" Duh.

Comments

[fallenpegasus]

Sounds like it's starting to click in.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I need to get you a CD. It's Rockapella, live in Japan. I want to see your reaction when these gaijin are up there speaking Japanese to the natives... see if they're any good, or how they screw up...

[shunra.livejournal.com]

The moment when a language comes into focus sure is magical. I don't remember doing it with Hebrew (I was about 4 at the time), but Dutch, French, and ASL (none of which I speak proficiently, all of which have come into parsable focus) have afforded me that pleasure. It's - it's like tuning into a channel and suddenly the static is gone.

Thanks for sharing the ahaness of it.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[woggie.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I can find some more self-denigrating t-shirts.

Of course, I'd wear them to see if I could make Japanese people snicker, since that's what's important to me. :)

[bikerwalla.livejournal.com]

HELLO CLEVELAND!!

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Uwajimaya is currently selling shirts that read things like "Beware! I'm a Pervert!", "Warning! I frottage girls on trains!" (with a stick-figure illustration of a man standing next to a woman, both holding train straps from some undrawn ceiling, holding up her skirt) and the "I'm An Idiot American" and "I'm a Perverted American".

I might be missing something...

[(Anonymous)]

...but doesn't chotto mean 'a little'?

Re: I might be missing something...

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Yes, it does. However, it's the root of Chotto matte kudasai, a common expression meaning "Please wait a little while." Shortening the expression makes it more blunt, so chotto matte means "Wait a second" and chotto could be translated as "Just a sec!" In the context of the dialogue, "shut up" was a bit of a stretch but I colud see it.