Nothing But Words

Darth Kai

We had some friends over a few weeks ago for brunch on a sunny Saturday (the first time we’ve entertained since fixing up the house - another milestone!). Breakfast food - pancakes, fruit, etc - is even easier to prepare than the usual BBQ foods, and it’s a guaranteed hit with the kids. Kai decided to dress up as Darth Vader for the occasion. By the afternoon, the temperature was in the 70s, but Kai refused to remove the winter boots and ski gloves that were integral to his outfit (although he did concede to removing the gloves temporarily so he could eat his pancakes). A friend of mine brought his 6 year old, whom Kai had never met before. The other boy also brought his light saber. I wasn’t there when when first saw each other, but I’m told the first thing Kai said was “my light saber is red!” and other boy said “mine’s blue!” and then they immediately began an epic light saber duel.

Grammar note: I’ve never known for sure when to use “whom” in a sentence, so I decided to finally look it up. Through the wonders of Google, I came across this handy rule of thumb: “…simply substitute the personal pronoun ‘he/him’ or ’she/her’ for ‘who/whom.’ If he or she would be the correct form, the proper choice is ‘who.’ If ‘him’ or ‘her’ would be correct, use ‘whom.’ …Even when the word order must be altered slightly, you can use the technique…” So in the sentence above, I’d say “Kai had never met him before,” so “whom” is the right choice.

I hope I don’t have to figure out this kind of stuff with Japanese…