Monday, August 25th “Road rage and tailgating”

The news is currently reporting about road rage and tailgating.  In Japanese, it’s called 煽り運転。

Road rage means anger or violence between drivers.  

Tailgaiting means to follow the car in front too closely.

 This is a common thing that’s seen in a lot of places around the world.  Because everyone has smartphones or drive recorders, these incidents are being captured on video.  

There are people who snap easily anywhere.  Who knows why they are so snappy.  Let’s just hope we don’t run into these crazy people. 

road rage – 自動車の運転中の暴力行為

tailgating – 前者にぴったり付いて走ること

incidents – 事件

captured – 撮られる

snap –  きれる人

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0vXCRBgTqg

Wednesday, August 28th.   “Angler Fish”

There are so many creatures on earth that look so weird. Particularly, I’m interested in deep-sea fish.  The most famous deep-sea fish is the Angler fish.  It looks like a pissed-off alien.  The way it gets food is really interesting.  They have a glowing lantern in front of their face.  The light attracts small fish and the angler fish bites them with their sharp teeth.  It’s out of this world!!

The way they mate is even weirder.  The male angler fish sticks to the side of the female angler for life.  The male angler gets all the nutrients he needs and the female angler gets the sperm.  I guess it’s a win-win but how weird!!

creatures – 生物

angler fish チョウチンアンコウ

pissed-off キレてる（怒ってる）

glowing lantern – 光る提灯

attracts – 引寄せる

out of this world – この世のものではない

mate – 繁殖

even weirder – さらに変わっている

sticks – くっつく

for life – 一生

sperm – 精子

Friday, August 30th.  “Dialect”

There are many kinds of dialects in Japan. Kanto, Chubu, Kansai all have different dialects.    That’s the same in the U.S.  The way West coast (ex. L.A.) people speak is different from people in the East coast (ex. N.Y.)  

Today, when I was at MacDonald’s, I heard something really funny.  I was at the cashier and the guy next to me was ordering his food as well.  He was taking his time deciding what to order.  In the end, he said, “can I have Ebi フリャ〜 set”.  I almost burst out laughing.  

Then I thought maybe Mcdonald made a special Nagoya menu.  When I checked it, it was Ebi フィレオ (fillet).  So the guy really did say “Ebi フリャ〜”.  The funny thing is he was not an old guy.  He was probably in his 50’s.  This small incident made my day.  I kept smiling as I ate my burger. 

dialect – 方言

cashier – レジ

taking his time – 時間をかけて

incident – 出来事

made my day – 一日がいい日になった