Our brains, of course, are totally geared up for pattern recognition.  When you’re sitting around in a foreign country and people are speaking a language you don’t speak, your brain is desperately trying to find sense in the stream of phonemes.

 

Amusingly, some common Chinese words will set off your recognition, and not in a good way.  The Chinese word for “your” is pronounced “ni-guh” .  As a Chinese-speaking American friend of mine agreed, to the US ear, you’d think you were surrounded by gangsta rappers.  Say it out loud if you don’t understand.

 

Smell of the day

Rain.