Eric in Plano, Texas, asks about skosh, his father’s word for a small amount, as in just a skosh more tea. The word comes from Japanese sukoshi, meaning small or little. English speakers often heard the first vowel as nearly silent and shortened...
A native Japanese speaker is mystified by the expression “happy as a clam.” In Japanese, she says, if you had a good night’s sleep you might say you “slept like a clam” or “slept like mud.” So why do English...
If you’re driving and need to turn 180 degrees, you make a U-turn. But what do you make if you speak a language that doesn’t include the letter “U”? If you’re a Hindi speaker, what do you call wearing a V-neck sweater...
nomunication n.— «The intimacy that drinking fosters between friends, clients and colleagues has given rise to a new word: “Nomunication,” a bilingual coinage combining the Japanese for drinking with communication...
Washing Machine Charlie n.— «By the time he was 19, McNerney was the platoon sergeant of a mortar unit assigned to HQ Company in the jungles of Saipan, fighting Japanese soldiers and dodging Japanese bombs. One day, in early July 1944...
zirp n.— «The United States is repeating a Japanese experiment with a zero in one of the most important variables in financial markets: the official overnight interest rate. The so-called zirp, an acronym for zero interest-rate policy, is...