Paris syndrome
n.— «A Japanese woman in her 20s stopped a well-dressed Frenchman in the Opera metro station yesterday afternoon and asked him in broken English for help with a public telephone. He replied with a finger in the air and walked on, leaving another potential candidate for “Paris Syndrome.” The term has been coined by Dr Hiroaki Ota, a Paris-based psychiatrist who specialises in a state of depression which hits Japanese who come to live in the City of Light. The condition mainly afflicts young Japanese women and is brought on by the collision between the Japanese dream of France and the rough reality of Paris life.» —“‘Paris Syndrome’ Hits Japanese Dreamers” in Paris, France The Statesman (Kolkata, India) Dec. 15, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The English language has been greatly enriched by borrowings from the languages of Asia. Barely scratching the surface, we have from Japan skosh, tycoon, tsunami, origami, yen, kimono, futon, and karaoke. From Chinese comes yen, kowtow, gung ho, and...
How and why do words from one language find their way into another? Vietnamese, for instance, includes lots of words borrowed or adapted from French. Such linguistic mixing often happens when languages brush up against each other and speakers reach...