Friday, January 2, 2015

Let's Spend it Laughingly Every Day


I'm not one to go in for New Year's resolutions. It seems strange to me  
that you have to wait until January 1st to make a fresh start. Why not  
make a fresh start when you feel you need it? It could be October when  
you start your fitness regime or July when you take up a new hobby.  
Why does January have to be the month when all things change? And for  
that matter, why does February have to be the month when you come back  
down to earth with a bump when you realise your resolutions are  
unachieveable? 
 
Design in Japan focuses on the printed word like no other; mangled  
sentences, grammatical errors and crazy language abound on anything from 
T shirts to note books, from hats to handbags and stationery items to lunch 
boxes. When I asked my Japanese English teaching friends why these phrases 
are popular, even though they are obviously riddled with mistakes, the answer  
I got was quite astonishing. "Yes, we know the English doesn't sound  
natural, but the words used are the ones most Japanese people will  
understand or identify with." And if you think carefully about the meanings 
of these slogans it is difficult to say whether they are actually gobbledegook 
or just plain genius.
 
So today marks the day when I will start to use these slogans to  
define my own life.
 
And just like the guy opposite me in the coffee shop wearing a text-laden 
baseball cap, I think it's a great idea to "let's spend it laughingly every day".

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