OMG Across the World
During my honeymoon, we spent a couple days in Dubai. One of the most exhilarating things I have ever done is ride in a SUV through the desert. We drove out from the city to, what felt like, the middle of nowhere with only sand as far as the eye could see. The driver let air out of the tires and proceeded into the sandy hills of the desert. The vehicle fishtailed, pulled side to side, drove up and down at panic inducing angles, cruised along dangerously close to the edge of sandy cliffs, and many times felt like it would tip right over.[1]
In our vehicle there were couples from all over the world including India and Germany. In fact, Aaron and I were the only people in the vehicle for whom English was a first language. Yet, as the SUV thrashed around, I noticed everyone in the vehicle, regardless of their first language, yelled, “Oh my God!” in English. Not just in English, but with American accents. I realized then that no matter someone’s home country or native language, everyone yells “Oh my God,” like an American.
I noticed this phenomenon again on the playground here in Japan. While hanging upside down or going down the twisty slide backwards, I often hear Japanese 4- and 5-year-olds yelling “Oh my God” in English with perfect American accents. I know Americans may find young children yelling “Oh my God” to be a bit jarring. In fact, just recently I witnessed my mother correcting my daughter and niece separately that they should say “Oh my gosh.” However, I have heard Japanese mothers laugh at their kids using this phrase and even parrot it back in a teasing-American accent. Remember, Japan is not a country founded in Christianity.
I don’t think Franny, or my niece by proxy, is responsible for teaching her classmates this phrase. I never even heard Franny say “Oh my God” until after Franny was in Yochien (Japanese kindergarten) for a few months. Instead of learning Japanese, we took Franny all the way to Japan to learn to swear in English….
My original hypothesis after Dubai was that “Oh my God!” is a nearly universal exclamation of heightened excitement. It is a weird but amazing phrase that unites everyone across the globe. In reality, it probably just spread through American TV, movies, and viral videos. Honestly, the truth is much less interesting and inspiring.
Buckeyes vs. Horse Chestnuts
Utsunomiya, the city where we live in Japan, is located in the Tochigi Prefecture. A prefecture is similar to a state in the United States. Each prefecture has its own government, geography, and culture.
Maybe I was homesick and looking for reminders of Ohio, but I started to see buckeye leaves all over the Tochigi Prefecture. Buckeye leaves were on bridges in the city, tile in the train stations, and even air fresheners hanging from rearview mirrors. Since they obviously were not buckeye leaves, I wondered if they were marijuana leaves. Hopefully, I am not the only person who thinks marijuana plants share a resemblance to buckeye leaves. However, marijuana is punishable by up to seven years in prison in Japan. Alas, I figured it was probably not the plant featured on the tile in the public train station.
After pointing out to Aaron some of the faux buckeye leaves, or fuckeye leaves (wait, that doesn’t work, I’ll workshop it) Aaron decided to do some research. It turns out that the Tochigi Prefecture is named after the Horse Chestnut Tree that is native to the area. The Japanese horse chestnut is in the same family as the Ohio buckeye tree and produces a similar nut.
Tochigi Leaf and Nut
Buckeye Leaf and Nut
In one of his check-in meetings with his leadership, Aaron decided to present this piece of trivia, which turned out to be new information, to both his Japanese and American management. To the best of our knowledge, in all the years that his company has been sending Americans to Tochigi and Japanese to Ohio, no one else has ever pointed out that both locations are inundated with the trappings of a similar tree leaf and nut. Aaron and I were the first to notice this coincidence.
I like to think this makes me the best Ohio State University alumni in the land, but it is probably just evidence that I’m a nut case. (Sorry, really bad dad joke.)
[1] We also “snowboarded” down the sandy desert hills. Aaron was the only one to stick the landing. It was really sexy.
Your eye for the similarities to Buckeyes definitely makes you the best OSU to Japan alum! Also, enjoy the American OMGs 🤣