“I’m afraid your subscriptions were already added at the factory, but I can knock $5 per month off for the mix-up.”

No fucking thanks - this is FAR too slippery of a slope

Yep, English isn’t one language, it is 3 languages in a trench coat. Anglo-saxon, Norse, and French with a bit of Latin sprinkled in. 

Ok Boomer. Back in your day, you could afford to throw geishas out windows at 30 because you owned your own house, 2 cars and had no student loan debt. Us younger guys may never have woman tossing money, even if we skip avocado toast!

We mock people that speak English poorly, true. Same with all cultures. But, if an English speaker can get 3 words out of their mouth in a foreign language (that isn’t Spanish) then we stand in awe.

Something else no one mentions: Japanese war atrocities. When a German car maker that existed during the war years comes up invariably there’s a Nazi element to the story. Not so with the Japanese...for some reason.

I worked my ass off so I could be drinking and throwing women out of windows by age 30! You need to set goals if you want to achieve in life!

English is a true bastard of a language. Celtic, Welsh, Latin, French, Danish, and German have all gotten put ingredients into the goulash that is English. (WTF! Did I just use a Hungarian word?) I was told by non-English speakers that it is an easy language to learn, but an impossible language to master, because it…

From watching stuff on the ancient norse language, there is a lot of influence in English by Northmen, I imagine much of the reason it differs so much from continental Latin-derived languages in terms of grammar and vocabulary.

they may have run basically alongside the building in question is what he’s saying .. in this case 2nd floor probably does mean one flight up, high enough for there to be power lines below (besides, whatever we think is “abnormal” these days when it comes to things like electrical infrastructure which today is…

I’ve gone out drinking a handful of times in Tokyo, and it’s a different kind of being drunk there. You get drunk in the US, go outside, and you’re at risk of a public intox citation if you so much as mis-step on a side walk. You get drunk in Tokyo and as long as you keep to yourself/friend circle and don’t cause a…

One of the fun things about defenestration is that it links to history of the English Language and a not well known history of Europe.

Also, the fact that "Fenster" is the German word for window brings me additional joy...

not surprisingly, the world has changed a lot since mr. honda was 25 and even since he died in ‘91.  drunk driving was normal when he was 25, “geishas” (i.e. nice name for prostitute) were (and continue to be) seen as less than deserving of protection from the law, men were expected to be assholes etc.

In the UK, the first floor is actually one flight above ground level (so could depend on who was reporting that story).

There’s something about defenestration...

It is (or maybe was, at this point) the norm to get just absolutely blackout drunk with your coworkers most nights of the week. There is a lost-to-history documentary about the first KFC opening in Japan, and the Americans who were there for the event were in no way prepared for what was coming the night after. I mean…

Distance indeed makes the heart grow fonder. Excellent article. Everyone talks about nasty old Jew hater Henry Ford (with good reason), but you’ve perfectly characterized the modern public image of old man Honda as a sweet dude who just wanted to stick it to the stupid Americans. Thanks for shining light on the…

Don’t forget the the hookers and drugs.  Most of them are also on the support yacht, and just enough to “meet the needs of the moment” are brought over to the main one.  Helps avoid extra hassle from any inquisitive authorities and some deniability for the billionaire.  

I can see the headline now