Yesterday I went to take a photo at an automated machine, which I needed for some documentation I had to file. The machine was pretty cool, supporting multiple languages and, as is often the case in Japan, the ability to give change from a 10,000 yen note, the equivalent of putting a $100 bil into a vending machinel. After I’d taken my picture, the machine asked me to push the OK button if I liked the photo, or the NG button if I wanted to re-take the picture. NG (short for “no good”) is a unique word the Japanese use as the opposite of OK, indicating something that’s not allowed or that has failed (“I tried starting the car, but it was NG.”). NG is also what the Japanese call “bloopers,” failed takes when filming a movie or TV show. While no one is sure where the letters come from, I’ve seen NG in a 50s science fiction story by Arthur C Clarke, so I suspect it might be some minor British term that somehow found its way over here.
