Eigo de Essay
The Neck There are many English words used in everyday life in Japan. Some of them have totally different meanings from the original English words. In Japan, "neck" means a weak point. It probably came from the word "bottleneck." Just the other day, I was at a beauty salon, and a middle-aged woman came in for a haircut. She was taken to a shampoo basin, and a beautician helped her to lie on the reclining chair. Then the woman shouted, “Don’t touch my neck! My neck is a“neck”of my body!” This woman had no appointment, so a male beautician who happened to have some time off was in charge of her. She told him that she hadn't decided on what to do with her hair and wanted to be given advice. She added that she had an aromatherapy appointment in an hour's time, but that it didn't matter. The beautician said one hour was too short a time for a haircut and a blow-dry. She again said it didn't matter. I was sitting next to her and was all ears at that point. She said that getting her hair short might be a good idea so that it would be easy to take care of. Then she said that she really liked Setouchi Jakucho's hairstyle. I have to tell you that Setouchi is a very famous Buddhist nun, and everybody knows her head is totally shaved. All of a sudden, she stood up and said she wanted a smoke, and went out the backdoor with her nylon cape on. When the backdoor was closed, everybody in the hair salon started talking. The beautician said that in his 15 years as a beautician, he had never had such a disastrous day. Someone behind the counter told him to prepare a hair clipper. I said that I was worried about the aromatherapist. When the backdoor opened, we all shut up. She came back, and at that moment, my beautician took off my cape and handed me a mirror to check the back of my hair. I had to stand up and leave the salon reluctantly, which is the "neck" of the story.
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