This morning, A friend and I had a conversation about another friend who is currently looking for a job in the area. I mentioned we may need to hire someone for packing and postage labeling, but knowing our friend was looking for a job in the tech sector, I said, “…but with his experience he would be overkill.”

My friend looked at me and asked, “Just what kind of job are you looking for?”

It turns out he heard, “We may need to hire someone, but with his experience, he would need to learn to kill.”

Honestly, the job would require no marksmanship.

This reminds me of the time I first met a Spanish friend in Japan. Another American and I introduced ourselves to him (in Japanese) and I asked something like, 「仕事は何ですか？」 (shigoto wa nan desu ka? What is your work?).

The following reply is what we both heard:

「私はドラグクウィーンです。」 (watashi wa doragu kuwi-n desu. I’m a drag queen.)

Now, this was a large, burly man saying this.

There were a few moments of silence until one of us blurted out, “Wh.. what?”

He answered in English, “I’m a graduate student at the local university.”

Relieved my friend said, 「大学院ですね。」 (daigakuin desu ne. A graduate student.)