Eat up, kids! Also, be aware that sometimes mommies and daddies sleep around.
Earlier this week singer Ariana Grande gave us a great episode of inadvertent comedy when she had “barbecue grill” tattooed on her palm in Japanese text (and then another round of laughs when she tried to fix it). But linguistic weirdness happens inside Japan too, and an especially weird case was recently shared by Japanese Twitter user @chiyako11.
A mother of two toddlers, @chiyako11 tweeted a snapshot of a child’s rice bowl. As you might expect for Japanese tableware, it’s got some cute illustrations on it, but their backstory isn’t quite so innocent.
https://twitter.com/chiyako11/status/1090556235143733249Sure, “Dinosaur” is written in bright, cheery letters, and the blue baby dino bursting forth from his egg looks cute enough. But take a look at the green-skinned adult dinosaur. Doesn’t his expression look a little panicked?
The reason why is found in the text that’s written under the word “dinosaur.” While it’s rendered in the Latin alphabet, the vocabulary itself is actually Japanese, and it translates to:
“I knew it. My wife did have an affair back then. Ah, haha…”
The bowl is apparently either a hand-me-down or was bought second-hand, as @chiyako11 says it was made about 20 years ago. “I guess they figured little kids wouldn’t be able to read it,” she says, “but this was still pretty shocking LOL.”
Other Twitter users chimed in with:
“If the kid is old enough to understand the writing, then it’s time for them to start using a grown-up rice bowl.”
“’Mommy, what does this writing say?’ ‘Go ask your father!’”
“They should have drawn the biological father on the other side of the bowl.”
“Wow, this takes me back! I used this same bowl as a kid 25 years ago! When I read the words for the first time, I felt so sad.”
At the very least, the cheated-on dinosaur dad doesn’t appear to be responding with anger, and so perhaps he’s emotionally generous enough to give the blue baby all of the love and support that he would his own biological child. Still, a tale of prehistoric infidelity seems like heavy fare at the family table.
Source: Twitter/@chiyako11 via Jin
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he remembers being perplexed and intrigued by the Romaji Japanese on the cover of Baseball Stars Professional.

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