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Me to Ruriko, in Japanese via text: “I’m leaving for work.”
Ruriko: “Oh not anymore you’re not.”
Me: “???”
Ruriko: “That’s ‘the company president is leaving for work leaving for work.’ You wanted ‘a salaryman leaves for work leaving for work.’”
(出社 vs. 出勤, respectively)
Ruriko: “Oh not anymore you’re not.”
Me: “???”
Ruriko: “That’s ‘the company president is leaving for work leaving for work.’ You wanted ‘a salaryman leaves for work leaving for work.’”
(出社 vs. 出勤, respectively)
Ruriko: “Sociolinguistically you need to found a company and then you will again able to ‘leave for work.’”
Me: “This is complicated.”
Ruriko: “There are rules!”
Me: “This is complicated.”
Ruriko: “There are rules!”
My other favorite example of this genre, and it is less sociolinguistic than legal/linguistic, is that in English one habitually says “Employees of the company” inclusive of senior management but in Japanese, directors of the company are Very Much Not employees, so one corrects.
