Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Tsunemomo and "Drink-Driving"?

Tsunemomo, Masayo, and the maiko of Gion Higashi descending from Yasaka Shrine after the Mamemaki (bean throwing) ceremony.

Japanese technology never ceases to amaze me, nor does unavoidable deterioration of even native English speaker's language skills after a prolonged stay in Japan-land. Case in point: The presumably foreign author's (Justin McCurry) repeated use of the term "Drink-Driving'". I, too, have been outside of my native English speaking habitat for quite a while, so perhaps I'm mistaken, but wouldn't the correct terms be "drinking and driving" or "drunk driving"? Does not "drink-driving" refer to actually driving a drink, as opposed to an automobile?

****UPDATE****

Drink-Driving is a perfectly correct term used in England. I apologize if I offended anyone. m(- -)m

"Motorists who flout the law by driving home after a few drinks will soon be up against a formidable foe: their cars.

Toyota is working on a system of sensors that will automatically shut down a car's engine if it thinks the person behind the wheel has had too much to drink.

Cars will use sensors on the steering wheel to measure the alcohol level in the river's sweat, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported. If it is too high the car will not start."

You can read the rest of the article here.

4 comments:

shigatsuhana said...

Actually in England we use the term "drink-driving". Is he English?

Melissa said...

No kidding! He must be! I apologize. I've definately never heard that term used in the States. Thank you for pointing out my ignorance! I apologize to any Brits out there! How intersting linguist differences are, especially within the same language!

There used to be an English ALT in a small village near my town. He used so many great words I had never heard before! Of course most of the time I had no idea what he was on about...Good thing we had a Canadian around to translate for us! (^-^) Miss you D!

oume said...

oumeさんのblogURLです。来てね・・
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/zazen70

Ian said...

We say drink-drive in Oz too. There was a funny ad campaign on tv: "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot."
We also had a lame joke at school: don't drink-drive, it's washing liquid (Drive is a popular brand of detergent).