Do you like kinky kids?

Flashback, April 2002. I was in a party as a DJ when one Japanese schoolgirl approached me and asked, "do you like kinky kids?". Terribly shocked by the question, I wasn't able to answer back rightaway. After gathering my thoughts and getting ready to clarify what she meant by the maliciously-sounding question, she grilled me with another one. "Do you like to play kinky kids?" she innocently asked with her sparkling eyes gazing on my obviously bewildered face. "What? kinky kids? the ones with curly hair?" I curiously asked. "No, no, the boys. Cute Japanese boys!" she exclaimed. "Do you think I am that kind of a sick person?" I annoyingly replied while she reached for my CDs and browsed through them.

One of my friends who was beside me that time told me to take it easy. He explained that the girl didn't mean to say "kinky", the slang word for a bizarre or deviant taste of a sexual or erotic nature but "Kinki", a region in Japan which includes Osaka. And "Kinki kids" was the name of a popular boy duet from Osaka. Relieved, I humbly apologized to the girl who brought a CD of Kinki kids for me to include in the playlist. I tried to play the CD but was not that impressed with their singing nor with their songs.

Since then, I take every weird-sounding english expression here with a pinch of salt. The Japanese try very hard to learn English and I appreciate their effort and dedication to use the language correctly. You will be surprised that some of them could define difficult english words and eloquently use them in a sentence. Of course, there are times when I find humour in their english but I try very hard not to offend them. Last February though, during the Chinese New Year, a Japanese friend greeted me "happy year of the cock (rooster)". I forgot being polite and laughed to death.

photo credit: www.loonyverse.com