Japanese is SOV, and you can use the verbs as a noun!
My favorite is their word for "goodbye." It can be
"sayonara" but that's more of a "farewell". Their "see
ya later" is "ittekimasu." "Itte" is the gerund of
"iku" which means "to go." "Kimasu" is the present
future of "to come." So "ittekimasu" means "in going,
you will come." Or "goodbye." And they never say "you"
as it is implied. In addition, "masu" of "kimasu" is
actually a verb!!! "Masu" is sort of a humble "please"
of some sort. "Ki" is the informal verb of "kuru"
which means to come. So "Kimasu" is 2 verbs in one and
"ittekimasu" is 3 verbs in one to say a noun: goodbye!
Japanese hardly ever uses pronouns, that is, very few
I, you, etc. In Japanese, you seem to think in terms
of objects. One joke they have is to say part of a
verb and hang on the last syllable. For example,
"ikimasu" is "we will go." But if you pause at
"ikima-----" and then change the sound to "ikimasen"
it means "we will not go." It's like that Saturday
night live skit: Let's go. Not!
All in all though I don't think the Japanese are any
better off for it. They do have a better appreciation
of Nature, and they are more "homogenous." That's
changing though with the incorporation of Western
ways. It's important to note that "Lila" is an
American book, about America. The "Lila" of Japan
would be different, more imploring people to quit
being in touch with "Quality" and turn to their own
selfish fulfillment. I mean "Sony" means "Quality" but
their economy is in the dumps, they treat the Koreans
like crap (the Koreans who died on the island in the
middle of Hiroshima are memorialized "outside" the
island. The island was used as a target because it had
a T bridge so the bombardier could sight it. Anyway,
"gaijin" means outside people as anyone who isn't
Japanese is and that's how they treat the Koreans, I'm
not Korean fyi), and the rape of Nanjing shows they
can be barbarous. I've seen this change happening in
the upper echelons of corporate Japan. Japan is proof
that you can have too much Quality and not enough
degenerates.
Angus
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