The Life Nippon - An American In Japan

Archives for: February 2009, 18

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You Hot Guy!

02/18/09 01:09

The first time I heard the Japanese-English accent was while watching Tokyo Drift. There's a Japanese girl whose about to start a race. She says, "Ready, Se-toe, go!" Because there's no letter T in Japanese, they feel compelled to add a vowel onto the letter. For whatever reason, words in English that have a T are always pronounced "Toe."

You hear it so much that your brain automatically interprets "toe" as a regular old T.

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about all of the funny names I've come across while in Japan.

One common name is "Oh-whorey." As in, "She's always dressed like a slut. She's so whorey."

I once met a Chinese girl whose name was simply "Ho." I couldn't help but greet her, "Hey-Ho!." She had no idea.

Since many names start with the sound "Dai," you'll come across many people who are simply called "Die."

But my favorite class of funny names are the ones only English speakers can appreciate. Names where Toe becomes T.

As in the family name of "Ha-toe-guy." As in "Hot guy." What makes this poor guys name even funnier is that his first name was "You." I've actually met a man whose name was "You Hot Guy." This is better than an Abbot and Costello skit.

And finally, the family name "Ha-toe-sa-wa," or "Hot-sour." If they only knew.