If you live in
Japan for a while, you will hear this
phrase quite often. "
You use
chopsticks
very well!".
I tried to
get to the bottom of it. When somebody
commented on my expert
chopstick usage, I asked
them if that was one of their first
English lessons.
I asked them if they thought that only
Japanese
people used
chopsticks. I asked them about that
old guy out of
Karate Kid who used to be in
Happy Days.
I never found out why
Japanese people like to say "You
use chopsticks very well". I guess it's because they
want to say
something to practice their
English, and
maybe they think
foreigners wouldn't know how to use
chopsticks. Or maybe I really am some sort of
chopstick
expert.
But whenever I tried to
turn the tables and say something
like "You use a
knife and fork very well!", all I got
back was funny looks.
Sumimasen, yabanjin desu.