Gaijin Jump
By Craig Chapin. First published in January 1994.
I did not think this incident translated well to comic strip form. However, the numerous witnesses insisted that I use the incident in
The office where I worked was a block and a half from a convenience store, which was called Sunkus. I am told that the name is an attempt to transliterate “thanks” into Japanese.
One day, a group of us, put on our coats and walked to Sunkus to buy lunch. Unbeknownst to me, a hanger got caught on the belt of my trenchcoat, and I carried it all the way to the convenience store. The cashier tried to point this out to me, but I thought she was pointing to the candy-filled backscratcher (or whatever it was). She didn't know the English word “hanger,” and I didn’t know the Japanese word, so she used a verb phrase she did know: “hang up.” I thought she was telling me that the hand-shaped item was meant to hang on something, so I jokingly hung it on my nose. This seemed to cause her even more distress.
A short while later an English speaker noticed the hanger, and then all became clear.