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THE SERVICEMAN knows that he has been in Japan a long time when he shockingly realizes that he understands almost every word the Japanese are saying. In the beginning it sounded like so much verbal hodge-podge, but soon the words start taking separate shapes and the GI finds himself putting a nanji and a desuka together and asking "what time is it?"

A large percentage of the people in heaven must be Japanese because there are no swear words in the Japanese language. But some of the Japanese words are so static and hard-sounding that to the stranger's ear they register naughty and not so nice. Even a simple everyday greeting, like "Ikaga desuka?" (How are you?), is liable to be misinterpreted.

Back home the miliiary wanderer may try to impress a charming lass with his suave command of languages. The lady, however, on hearing such strange sounds from a stranger's voice box, may be anything but impressed.

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