Lost in Translation

A funny thing happened today in class. I was teaching my students adjectives that describe people. For example, artistic, athletic, musical, funny, friendly, and smart. Well, with each word I asked my students to give an example of the teachers at the school whom they thought matched the adjectives. I would give them suggestions and they would either agree or disagree. However, something really funny happened when we got to the word smart. I gave an example of a male scienct teacher and the girls began to laugh a lot!! They noticed the confused look on my face and said...in broken English....That teacher is not slim! Realizing what was happening I began to laugh. I learned something new today...smart in Japan means slim. How those connect or are related I have no idea but it is just too funny. Oh, the joys of living in another country. :)