Arf Arf the dog

Alright, time for a more j-flavored entry. Let's start it with a joke:

What's the most popular topic of conversation in Japan in the summer?
Answer: "It's hot!" (暑い!)
Seriously, everyone says it. I'm reminded daily by R.

OK, moving on. I've often thought that Japanese onomatopoeia is more often than not a shade closer to the real thing than our equivalents in English. For example, pigs go "buu buu", which is a hell of a lot closer than oink oink. Other words tend to be less as distinct, but when listened to closely, I think the Japanese beat out the English. Perhaps this is due to their manga culture, where the comic books are fill with written out sounds.

One area where the Japanese obviously struggle with is anything that requires a hard r sound, because it just doesn't exist in the language, period.

I heard a yesterday at the park a sound though that couldn't have been more spot on: this little whispy dog got all riled up and was doing a perfect ARF ARF! ARF ARF! He ran around in circles about this girl with a hula hoop. ARF ARF! One of those instances where I failed to have the camera there. Looked kinda like the Chihuahua - Shibainu mix in the pic but was way more wispy.