The Hourglass

I was browsing some blogs recently when I happened upon this post by Tigerhawk. He noticed the following AP headline and lede.

House Democrats to unveil Iraq war plan

In a direct challenge to President Bush, House Democrats are advancing legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the fall of next year.

He objects to the title because the democrats' proposal is not a war plan but rather a retreat plan. One commenter, Shochu John, takes the view that the headline sounds fine: "It means plan regarding the Iraq war, no?" This is an interesting difference of opinion. Whose interpretation is correct? Well, linguistically, both of them.

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Before I first arrived in Japan nearly 20 years ago, I had been told by many that the Japanese people are so polite. Well, I must say that in my experience, they certainly have lived up to the stereotype. Naturally, I've met a few rude ones over the years, and I've met some who thought they were being funny, but from my own cultural perspective were being downright rude. However, those disappointing encounters have been few and far between and essentially all of the people I have interacted with over the years have been exceedingly polite.

There has in fact been one particular form of politeness that has been so systematic and almost formulaic across so many people and so many places that it is quite striking. This is the custom where Japanese people say Thank You twice. I don't mean that they say Thank you, thank you! as an expression of gratitude. Rather, they are sure to say thank you in each of two independent and successive encounters.

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A stock character in much of the entertainment world is the none-too-bright sidekick of a main character. While there are many formulas for this dimwit, one of the most common features in this stereotype is slow speech with lots of long, drawn-out filled pauses. A classic example—perhaps an archetypal example—is Art Carney's Ed Norton (pictured at right) from The Honeymooners. Other examples abound: Edgar Bergen's Mortimer Snerd, Rev. Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd) in Taxi, Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo) in Welcome Back, Kotter, and George Utley (Tom Poston) in Newhart as well as numerous minor characters whose names few would recognize.

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