Just for you, P-Jay …We here at my English school not only categorize typical Japanese pronunciation mistakes (See “One, Two, Three … WHORE!”: Part Ichi) but sometimes we discover brand new ones. Today I taught my class of adorable, wriggly 2 year-olds again. Kazuki, the wriggliest of them all, bumped his nose on the folding table and cried for a good part of the class. After his tears dried, he pressed his face into his mother’s bosom and refused to chant any of the new words I was teaching. Kumi and Aya dutifully repeated the names of animals but Kazuki continued to turn up his nose while his mother chanted the words in his place. One might have thought that Kazuki’s parents weren’t getting any of their money’s worth for that particular class until Kazuki surprised us all by suddenly shouting out the words that matched the flashcards I was holding up. When he managed to find time to learn “dog” and “alligator” between ignoring me and crying I’ll never know but “dog” and “alligator” it was …
I held up “sun.”
“Sun!” shouted the children.
I held up “grass”
“Gu-rasu!!” shouted the children.
I held up “moon.”
“Poon!!!” shrieked Kazuki.
P for M? Since when? Bless the children … every one.