Even though Im stupid, Im lucky enough to know these words. But I overheard this misunderstanding at work tonight, and i thought Id share. My coworker was talking in a JapaneseーEnglish mix with a Japanese person about BBQ plans and the japanese person said "dont forget すみハサミ(炭ハサミ)" and he said "eh?すみ?すみ〜ません?" and the Japanese person replied, "No no, uhm, charcoal ハサミ" and my coworker said "oh uh, charcoal scissors??" and the japanese person got a little frustrated and asked another japanese person, but neither knew what to say so the japanese person replied, "no no not scissors. charcoal ハサミ" Well, by this time my coworker was confused too and he said, "oh uh right, chorcoal together??" Although his Japanese is great, he forgot something important. ハサミ doesnt only mean "scissors", it can also mean "tongs" (as it did in this case) and other things it could mean are "pincers" (like on a crab) or even ハサミム
シ which is "earwig" (not scissors bug!)
シ which is "earwig" (not scissors bug!)
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