Word every Gracious Individual should know: Yoko Meshi
Definition: Yoko Meshi (pronounced: yO-kO me-shE); Japanese; noun
1. The peculiar stress of speaking a foreign language.
Why I love this word:
Taken literally, meshi means 'boiled rice' and yoko means 'horizontal,' so combined you get 'a meal eaten sideways.' Kinda funny huh? Well, this is how the Japanese define the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language: yoko is a humorous reference to the fact that Japanese is normally written vertically, whereas most foreign languages are written horizontally. So this is where the word stems from.
Photograph by Hideaki Hamada
Definition: Yoko Meshi (pronounced: yO-kO me-shE); Japanese; noun
1. The peculiar stress of speaking a foreign language.
Why I love this word:
Taken literally, meshi means 'boiled rice' and yoko means 'horizontal,' so combined you get 'a meal eaten sideways.' Kinda funny huh? Well, this is how the Japanese define the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language: yoko is a humorous reference to the fact that Japanese is normally written vertically, whereas most foreign languages are written horizontally. So this is where the word stems from.
Photograph by Hideaki Hamada
