Mon 28 May 2007 - Shimasu!
I pick up catch-phrases from various places.
One is “Shimasu!”, which I use as a kind of Japanese expletive, when struggling to wake up in the morning, or when exerting myself in some extraordinary way.
shimasu.mp3 (MP3 format; 2 seconds; 9Kb)
Said the right way, it sounds like something they might have said on one of those old Japanese torture shows that Clive James used to show clips of, with contestants getting crabs shoved down their trousers or having boiling water run over their tongues or whatever.
Actually it apparently means “to do” in Japanese, but I got it from Dick Smith Electronics — it’s their made-up brandname that they used to give to things to make them sound like they came from Japan.
I suppose almost any word can sound like a Japanese expletive when you say it the right way. Tomato!
tomato.mp3 (MP3 format; 1 second; 6Kb)