gboothe wrote:... My daidai senpai ... called that ... the "fool's valve". He maintains that all Japanese have one that has only two positions and automatically switchs to the English position when confronted with a FG face...
And not just a face - sometimes just a written name, I hear.
There was a story someone posted before (buried deep in some thread I can no longer find, but maybe the original poster will recall) about ordering pizza in Japan.
Despite the fact that their Japanese friend rang to make the order and spoke in native Japanese, the phone number popped up a western surname (like "Smith") at the pizza shop and the operator said (in Japanese) to the bewildered Japanese friend, something like "Sorry, I can't understand you, I'll get my manager" .
My wife also had the fun of working in a place where all foreigners (Russian, French, German, etc.) were referred to her (even though she can only speak English and Japanese), because in her Japanese colleagues' minds, she spoke "gaikokujin".
Shou ga nai.
