Y.E.S. - Yoko's English? Subversive.

She had joined in on my skype chat with my dad and step-mom. After greetings, she informed them, "Nami is dreading summer in Japan."
Now, it's mid-August. As far as I can tell, we are in the middle of summer in Japan! The linguist in me can't let this slide by unnoticed.
"Dread is about a future occurrence. I can't dread summer. It is summer. You're using the word wrong."
"No, I'm not. I've always used it like that."
"I'm sure you have. But, dread is like about trepidation about something that hasn't happened yet."
"Well, whatever then. Nami hates summer in Japan."

I can't say she's wrong. The constant cry of cicadas are like some audio form of waterboarding to me. It's true that I had just asked her when all the cicadas will die. I'm sick of their screaming. She told this to my dad and Deborah, but she said locusts. I corrected her, but she claimed that it's the same difference. It SO isn't, but she was just confused because I guess "17-year locusts" are cicadas. Whoever invented that name was deliberately trying to stir up future Japanese mother/ Half-Japanese daughter disagreements, I just know it.

Anyway, later we continued our discussion about 'dread' v 'hate' - I can't help that I've become something of a vocabulary Nazi. "Do you really use the word 'dread' like the word 'hate'?" I asked my mom.
"No," she answered. "They don't mean the same thing."
"True," I agreed. "I'm telling you that 'dread' is always about something in the future."
She replied, "I always thought it was when you were worried about something that's gonna happen."
**Long pause as we gaze at each other like high noon (somewhere a tumbleweed is rolling by).
"EXACTLY! Going to happen! Something in the future! You just said it yourself! You knew all along!" She starts laughing like crazy.
"I'm going to go have a cigarette," she announces before she steps out. I don't think it's that she's trying to make me look like the grammar police. I think she just likes riling me up. Argh.

The battle for kin'en continues...

We were at a coffee shop at a gas station, sitting in the smoking section, not that that means anything in Japan - there might be two tables right next to each other and one will be smoking, the other non-smoking. Anyway, the section we were in was definitely a smoking section, but it also had the one long couch type seat instead of stand-alone chairs, so when this couple came in with their sleeping grandson, maybe 2 years old, they came to lay him down on the couch area. I told my mom she shouldn't smoke since there was that baby and everything. And she says, "They're probably sitting over here because he smokes."

She was talking about the grandpa in case you thought the same thing I did initially. And she was right. Sigh. This country.

P.S. Kin'en means no smoking

when you wish upon a smoke

My campaign to get my mom to quit smoking failed within a week, though now she does smoke outside which is nice. I need to go to Shinjuku today and she's been hemming and hawing about whether she wants to come with me. I've been waiting for about 2 hours for her decision. She is still undecided. She finally just went out to "Think on a smoke." I hope I'll get my answer soon.

ethics

So, we had a party here for Thanksgiving last night. As you might expect, there were some smokers and my mom was complaining since I've pretty much forced her to quit since I arrived. The guests were all students of my mom's and some of them didn't know she even smoked since they don't allow it on their school campus. I was half listening to their conversation and my mom was saying that sometimes she would go with the smokers to the 'ko-en' to smoke. This word can mean either 'park' or 'playground' - so I asked which, not that either is a particularly good place to go smoke really. Anyway, these adults who aren't allowed to smoke on their college campus would walk to a local playground to light up. I'm not kidding. My mom said that sometimes there were even kids on swings and stuff. This from the same culture that has 20 people standing on either side of a single lane, one-way street waiting for the signal to say 'walk.' So, apparently it's okay to go smoke in front of little kids on what is essentially their turf, but jaywalking in any form is a no-no. Of course, at the crosswalk in question, my mom jaywalked anyway. I asked her if people don't jaywalk EVER in Japan, to which she replied, "Only on bikes."