one-eye pull (in Japan)

[Sharon Vaipae]

>> And what about the finger pulling down the lower
>> eyelid?
>
>Mon oeil ... my eye ... same meaning of doubt or
>skepticism as in English.

During our eight years in Tochigi-ken, Niigata-ken, and Osaka-ku Japan, my
elementary/middle school school-age children both received from and gave it
to
Japanese school peers, meaning variously, "I don't care," "Who cares, so
what," and "Baka" (you are stupid), and sometimes as a joking greeting
between friends.  They did not know it before arriving in Japan at the ages
of three and five. My university students also used it occasionally with
each other, but always laughed as though it was intended humorously.

The closed rounded forefinger/thumb with remaining fingers slightly
elevated and curled signals "money" in Japan, although my students were
also familiar with its "O.K." U.S. meaning, as well as South American
meaning as a substitute for the middle finger. The last learned during in
the past ten years with the large influx of second and third-generation
Japanese from Brazil, Peru, Columbia, etc. to fulfill
kkk labor needs.

And while I'm here:
>At 10:35 PM 11/2/2000 -0500, "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> >wrote:
>probably you'll even see "He's so Staten Island" somewhere ....

I overheard one of my daughter's softball teammates huffily comment after
being thrown out at first base:  "I was SO there."

"Ghetto" is used by non-ghetto teens at my school as a descriptor of anything
that they look down upon or of which they disapprove, as in "her hair was
so ghetto," or "I would never go to the Mall looking so ghetto." Here "so" and
"ghetto" are frequently played together.

Warm regards, and always thoroughly correctable,

Sharon Vaipae
LMedu at jps.net
DR High School
Tracy, CA

Sharon Vaipae           "The truth shall make you odd."
LMedu at jps.net                          - Flannery O'Connor
Tracy, CA