You’ve been in America too long when…

Many people who live for an extended time in another country make “You’ve been in (such-and-such country) for too long when…” type jokes.

They can be interesting to read because you can tell something about their native culture by the types of things that they find peculiar about another country.

I found a list titled 「日本人がアメリカに長くいすぎたと実感するのはこんなとき」 (Roughly: “You’ve been living in America too long when… (by Japanese people)”).

It’s a list of things that Japanese people who have been living in America for a long period find unusual about American culture.

To tell the truth, I’ve been living in Japan longer now than I lived in America so I can understand the Japanese people’s reactions.

Here is some of the list:

You’ve been living in America too long when… (by Japanese people):

◎ you wear a T-shirt even in winter.
◎ you blow your nose in public
◎ you don’t wear skirts any more.
◎ you feel you’re lucky when a train is only five minutes late.
◎ you  say ‘Thank you’ to a cashier in a store.
◎ you don’t carry an umbrella.
◎ you cross a street when the light is still red.
◎ you wear your shoes indoors.
◎ you understand measuring units such as Fahrenheit, miles, gallons and inches.

If you’re unfamiliar with Japanese culture, you may find that list confusing.
I’ll try to explain them a bit…

◎ About “wearing a T-shirt in winter”…foreigners, especially Americans, have an image amongst Japanese of wearing T-shirts all year–even when it’s cold outside.
◎ Regarding “blowing your nose in public”…it’s considered bad manners in Japan.
◎ About “skirts”…Japanese girls wear them more often than Americans do. Generally speaking.
◎ As for “feeling lucky about a train being ‘only’ five minutes late”…public transportation in Japan is extremely punctual. Announcements and apologies can be heard in train stations in Japan if a train is even a minute late.
◎ About “thanking store clerks”…people in Japan, especially Tokyo, don’t usually do that.
◎ “Umbrellas”…people in Japan use them. I know when I lived in America, I have no recollection of ever seeing anyone use an umbrella.
◎ About “jay-walking (crossing before the light changes)”…most people in Japan wait for the light—even if there are no cars on the road.
◎ About “shoes indoors”…in Japan, people take their shoes off when they enter a house.
◎ About “measuring units”…Japan uses, as most other countries do, the metric system.

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Then, of course, there are “You know you’ve been in Japan too long…” jokes, too:

(The cartoon images in this post were found on “Google Images“).

なぞなぞ

Do you study Japanese?

Japanese なぞなぞ (riddles) are a helpful study tool. The play on words in children’s riddles help expand your vocabulary.

If you don’t understand Japanese, these riddles will probably be difficult to understand because riddles in any language aren’t easy to translate to another language (since riddles usually incorporate a play on words, and different languages don’t often have similar wordplay).

Anyways, probably the most common Japanese riddle:

「パンはパンでも食べられないパンは、なぁに？」
答え:「フライパン」

Do you understand it? Have you heard it before? It’s an old joke that everyone in Japan has heard countless times.

Literally, in English it would be:
“Bread is bread but what bread is inedible?”
Answer: “A frying pan.”

See? It doesn’t make sense in English.
But in Japanese, the word for “bread” is “pan”.

Now does it make more sense?

If you write it in English, but use the Japanese word “pan” instead of “bread”:
“Pan is pan but what pan is inedible?”
Answer: “A frying pan.”

Here’s another one:

「トラを食べちゃう車ってなぁに？」
答え： 「トラック」 (とら食う)

“What kind of vehicle eats tigers?”
Answer: “A truck”

Meaningless in English.
But “tiger” is “tora” in Japanese. And “eat” is “taberu“…or sometimes “kuu“.
“Truck” in Japanese is “torakku”, which sounds similar to “Tora Kuu” (Tiger Eat).

If you want to see more Japanese riddles (and you can read Japanese), go to http://なぞなぞ.jp/.

Do you know any Japanese なぞなぞ (riddles)? Write them in this post’s comments section.
Feel free to write English riddles there too.