In a sort of reverse experience than the one in which David Sedaris has to tell his French class and sadistic teacher what he likes and dislikes (in Me Talk Pretty One Day, my favorite), I participated in a survey created by a Japanese high school student who is living with one of my co-workers. Her English is on the rough side, but she expressed that Japanese people think Americans don't ever get mad, and she wanted to know what made me mad. How do you explain that in words she'd understand? Mostly I get peeved at things rather than full-out angry, but I wasn't sure that was a distinction I could explain. John suggested "When people cut you off in traffic," but that's problem. I came up with "when someone hurts someone else's feelings" and "waiting for people who are more than five minutes late." I could have said "co-workers who quit without giving notice" and "curators who refuse to do work assigned to them" but then realized that there is a line bewteen answering a survey and just plain venting.
She also wanted to know what time I go to bed, whether I like sports, and how often I use my credit card. On at least two of those, I'm really going to skew her results. I can only imagine my country's international reputation on sports and credit spending - but bedtime? Are we perceived as puritanically early to bed, or Cops and Letterman night owls?
