Are You a “Going My Way” Person?

One of my favorite words of Japanese is actually wasei eigo or “made-in-Japan English.” It’s the phrase “going my way,” and it refers to people who live life in their one way without being overly concerned with society all around them, free to ignore social rules as they choose. As with the word “my pace,” it’s used as a fixed phrase no matter what the subject is, which makes for some strange sentences like, “That person over there is really ‘going my way.'” Another word that changes when imported into Japanese is “free.” While the term most often has to do with absense of cost in English, in Japanese it’s more about freedom of choice, so a “free ticket” here would be a ticket that let you go on any attraction rather than one that didn’t cost you anything. A shirt that says “free size” will supposedly fit anyone (although large gaijin like me know better), and when a Japanese person goes to sell something at a flea market, in his mind he’s really going to a “free market” where anything can be bought or sold freely. Are you an “about” person? The Japanese use this English preposition as an adjective meaning vague or imprecise. Messing up English can be fun!