Re: Another Happy Birthday!

En réponse à "M.E.S." <suomenkieli@...>:

>
> Sumimasen could be appropriate, if the recipient
> somehow fells s/he is bothering/disturbing the speaker
> by "forcing" the speaker to say happy birthday.  I'd
> say, from my own experiences, arigatou (thanks) would
> be sufficient.  Of course, if towards elders or in a
> formal situation, you want to say "thank you" and
> hence arigatou gozaimasu.  Your understanding of
> sumimasen, however, seems quite good!  From all that
> manga-reading, eh?
>
:)) Not this time! It comes from my Teach Yourself Japanese, which is quite
good at explaining those kinds of cultural features.

 As
> for replying to "happy birthday" in Vyh., I've not
> thought about it - I think "thanks" (Vyh. glhL) or
> "thank you" (Vyh. glhL-czosh) should be fine too, but
> I'll think about it.
>
It could be an expression you *mustn't* answer to, like we have in theater in
France. When you want to wish good luck to an actor or a director before the
beginning of a theater play, you cannot use "good luck" ("bonne chance") since
it brings bad luck :)) (actors are quite superstitious when it comes to
acting :)) ). You have to say "Merde !" (yes indeed, you read me
correctly :)) ) and the person who receives the wish mustn't answer to it. Are
there other languages (nat- and/or con-) that also have insults promoted to
good wish interjections in some situations?

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.

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