SASHIMI

One day I was at a house party. I saw Patty there whom I had met a couple of times before. In English speaking countries, people say your name often during a conversation. For example, "good morning, Jim! blah, blah, blah." "What do you think, Kim?" "See you later, Ken." I went up to Patty and said "Hi, long time no see, Patty. How have you been?" She responded "I've been doing good, how about you, Sashimi?" I did not get it right away, but I tried to understand what she meant. Then, it dawned on me that she believed that my name was Sashimi, which means raw fishes. After I figured it out, I burst into laughter, which made her aware that my name wasn't Sashimi. "I'm so sorry, it slipped my mind. What's your name again?" She seemed embarrassed. "I'm Tetsuya,"I managed to answer. "Oh, that's right! Sorry, Tetsuya." We looked at each other's eyes and laughed on and on. I thought it was very interesting since it was not just a funny mistake, but something telling about the difference of cultural background. If she were Japanese, she would have never called me "sashimi", even though she forgot my name. Right after saying or hearing "Sashimi" the picture of "raw fishes" would have come to her mind automatically. However, since she had a different background, Sashimi could mean anything to her. You won't know how much cultural background means until you leave your own county.