Thursday, March 14, 2013

Do you know the shape of your kneecap?

Now I'm suffering from a bad pollen allergy. Though I take medicine, I'm not so comfortable. What I can say is my favorite phrase " it can't be helped."

Well, yesterday I had Tracey's individual English lesson. I learned a new word, which is "kneecap".
When I was asked "do you know the shape of your kneecap", I didn't understand the question. She wanted to show an example of having no meaning.

Anyway after she left home, I checked my kneecap, It was ellipsoidal.

Japanese love to talk about four seasons. And we are proud of having wonderful four seasons. So it's a usual question  for to ask foreigners who come to Japan how many seasons you have in your country? Actually I asked the guests from East Timor and they said that they had two seasons, which are the rainy season and the dry season.
When I met Tracey, probably I asked her the same question, and she said they had four.
I thought it was a natural question.
For her it seemed to be odd. She seems to think that asking the number of seasons has no meaning.

Do you think it's odd when you asked the number of seasons?





5 comments:

Helen said...

Honestly? Yes I do find it strange to be asked how many seasons we have! Canada has the same as Japan, 4 seasons so it seems strange that people don't know it has the same. They aren't quite the same length as they are in Japan though. Our winter is really long and so spring, summer and autumn are a bit shorter by comparison.

I'm just used to the question now so I understand why people ask it, but I wouldn't normally ask it to people from other countries.

Mieko said...

You do ,too. I don't remember how many times I have asked this question. And yester I knew that some people feel it strange, and I know many people feel it strange. Anyway I like spring with cherry brossomes, but I hate spring with lots of pollen.
Thanks for your comments. It was a good opportunity to reconsider my Japanese thinking.

uthman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
uthman said...

You don;t need to reconsider your Japanese thinking.

White people should understand that different cultures have different values for different parts of their everyday lives. In Japan, the changing seasons is a significant thing; summer clothes are put away and there is a definite idea of what to wear (and eat) in autumn. In Canada, for example, none of that matters.

White people seem to get frustrated very easily with other cultures' emphasis on things they don't emphasize. I think they should be more open-minded...

Mieko said...

Shonan, thanks for your comments.
Sometimes I find that a thing which is usual for me is not usual for others. It's really interestign. So I love to talk with others, people who have different cultrues.
So when I was asked this question about kneecap, I laughed.