One of the more useful abbreviations that has grown popular here in Japan in the last year or so is "K.Y." which stands for "Kuuki ga Yomenai" and directly translated it means "can't read the air" and basically refers to people who cannot read other people and as a result of that act insensitively towards other people. Something which is pretty important here in Japan since a lot of the communication requires you to read between the lines. I'm not completely certain about the background of this new fashion word, but if I'm not mistaken it came out of Japanese high school students and got picked up by the media and is now in pretty common usage and most people in Japan are familiar with the meaning now (including doctors age 60+ that we've talked to in work before). But if anyone happens to know better, please feel free to correct me!Let me give you an example here and please feel free to act out the scenario with a friend, lover or long lost relative:
Scenario 1 - KY Person
KY Person: Wow, yeah, it'll be so great when we go to that super cool theme bar Alcatraz this Saturday!
Person A: Yeah (frowning and looking a bit at unease), about that... I'm not sure that...
KY Person: Hell yeah! I'm going to have that sausage that looks like a penis and all those cool drinks!!!
Person A: (Loud sigh) yeah, ok, I'll see you there then...
KY Person: (Excited) Yeah, it'll be so great!
...and to give you a counter to that, let's see the same scenario with a person that has the ability to "read the air":
Person B: Wow, yeah, it'll be so great when we go to that super cool theme bar Alcatraz this Saturday!
Person A: Yeah (frowning and looking a bit at unease), about that... I'm not sure that...
Person B: Oh? Would you rather prefer to go to a more normal place?
Person A: Yeah, actually that would be better I think!
Person B: Ok, sure that works too!
Oh, and yeah, in case you are wondering, I've been to that Alcatraz place and it's the greatest place ever, the penis sausage is highly recommended! They have a "show time" and everything!
Posts
3 comments:
Alcatraz. What an abortion.
I got dragged in there, the group desperate for something and the one girl visiting Tokyo had heard about the place and was screaming over and over "A-L-C-A-T-R-A-Z" and finally there I was.
The waitress was fantastically bored and wildly uninterested in her role as a nurse or a guard or whatever. The hyper tokyo visitor wanted all these pictures and in everyone all of us and the staff all look like we are about to collectively enjoy a razor blade tabehoDIE.....just total shit.
Gaijinass - Haha, well, I do have to admit that I'm a bit of a fan of bad taste and therefore am quite fond of Alcatraz. The more effort that has been put into it and the more pathetic it is, the more I thrive on it! It can't be done tongue-in-cheek, then all the fun of failure is gone. But it seems like me and your friend likes it for different reasons... ;)
At work I was connected to someone's voice mail just as I read this:
"KY Person: Hell yeah! I'm going to have that sausage that looks like a penis and all those cool drinks!!!"
I almost had to hang-up.
Post a Comment