The Changing Shape of Language

Words are fleeting things, and their meanings are never set in stone when you're in a country like Japan. For example, the English word "attack" is used in Japanese to mean "to actively pursue a goal," and if you had your eye on a certain girl, a Japanese person might advise you to attack her, which would sound quite odd. Similarly, the English word "mansion" has come to mean a high-rise apartment that's usually owned rather than rented, which can take a little getting used to at first. There are many examples of this subtle re-mapping of English words in Japan, including "bike" (always a motorcycle, never a bicycle), "rouge" (what lipstick is called here), "manicure" (nail polish), "hip" (buttocks), and so on. Once I was teaching English, and a (very attractive) female student introduced me to her her boyfriend who was sitting in on the class. The trouble is, instead of using the term boyfriend, she introduced him as her "lover" (in Japanese, koibito or "love person"), which caused the temperature in the room to rise considerably for the rest of the lesson.

Language is always shifting and changing.