• axont [she/her, comrade/them]
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    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Yeah I've been on trains in China and seen middle aged men wearing shirts that say stuff like Daddy's Little Princess. Sometimes it's just gibberish too, like I've seen shirts saying things like random strings of letters like XGJAYBNMV. Some people just wanna wear a shirt that has mysterious foreign writing on it

    • mar_k [he/him]
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      edit-2
      2 years ago

      Idk if it's as prevalent, but some Americans definitely wear shirts with random gibberish in Japanese because they like the aesthetic

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
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        edit-2
        2 years ago

        Back when I was learning hanzi and kanji more often, I met a college classmate who had the character 力 emblazoned on his arm. White guy. I ask him, "So, what's with the tattoo? It says power" trying to make conversation, and he looks at me like I just insulted his mother, his jaw drops. He replies, "It doesn't say power at all. It says strength."

        I didn't talk to him after that. I've also met people who had tattoos of characters that don't say anything at all, like completely fictional characters made of random strokes

        • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
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          2 years ago

          One of my Japanese friends tells the story of a white Midwestern exchange student at his university who one day proudly showed off his new Kanji tattoo. My friend looks at it and asks him "what's it supposed to say?"

          White guy looks confused and says "it says, 挑戦 (chousen) - Challenge".

          My friend nods and says "Yeah it does say chousen, but the Kanji is 朝鮮 - North Korea."

          That was the last time my friend ever saw the exchange student. He thinks he withdrew from the exchange program out of shame.

          • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
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            edit-2
            2 years ago

            This is the best. I also think it's interesting how the North is Chousen and the south is Kankoku. It reflects the Korean thing of Joseon vs Hanguk.

            Do you know if communists in Japan would possibly call South Korea by like 南朝鮮 (minami chosen)? Reflecting how north Koreans call the south 남조선 "namjoseon" instead of Hanguk.

          • StellarTabi [none/use name]
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            2 years ago

            and why would his jaw drop, those are basically synonyms! it's not it translates to "american who eats cheeseburger"

            • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Well I did overhear him explain it further to someone else later, it was something to do with a brainwormed white person evangelical Christian something. Some kind of Bible verse quote.