After the Foot

I found out last weekend that the Japanese word for footprint, 足跡, literally means "after the foot". Or drop the "the" and it is "after foot". I think it leaves a different residual image in the mind from hearing "footprint".

At eikaiwa class last night, a friend mentioned she would be going back to the UK for ten days, having been there for a year or so when she was a student. I asked her if she learned any good curses while she was there the first time, as another friend I know came back swearing like a sailor. Unfortunately Kaori missed out, as most of the friends she made were other foreign exchange students, rather than resident Brits.

This led to a conversation where I inquired as to the existence of really good curses in Japanese, and was informed that there is a definite dearth, that they are not used the same way or don't mean the same thing in Japanese. There are many things you can say that have a strong meaning and can be offensive, but often it is as much the tone of voice you use as it is the word.

I hypothesized that a culture that has curse words, especially an abundance of them, is probably more likely to be a direct or aggressive culture, whereas a culture without might be more passive or subtle in their methods of communication. Hara san said this may be so,　as when she was young, she was often told that if she was angry, she should wait an hour to address the situation, so as to be in a better frame of mind. She regrets her lack of aggression, but I would posit a middle ground between the two would be a better state.