uTopianTurtleTop

Similarly, "Tutti Frutti" has different meanings depending on whether you're talking to Little Richard or the Saito Kinen woodwind section.
 

OK, I know "tutti" is an orchestral term meaning "all together now." So I looked up Saito Kinen on google, and they're an orchestra in Japan. So what's this about? The only thought that occurs to me is that it might be some lame and aggressive and historically offensive Mickey-Rooney-as-the-Japanese-guy-in-Breakfast-at-Tiffany's-style "humor." Please clarify.
 

my asian heritage is such an integral part of my identity that sometimes i forget that it's not so apparent in cyberspace. my sincere apologies to you and any readers if the saito kinen reference is too off-color; feel free to delete the comment. most of my relatives have real linguistic problems distinguishing between R's and L's, so there is some affection when I joke about such things, but of course I can see how it would be interpreted otherwise. sorry 'bout that.

ps have i ever mentioned how my brain confuses mickey rooney and mickey rourke? sometimes it's a little disconcerting.
 

M. C-,

It was lame of me to say "lame," and lame of me not to imagine that you might be Asian yourself. I had tried to imagine circumstances when joking about the "L" and "R" confusion might be OK, and all I could come up with was a native Anglophone teasing a close immigrant friend. A relative teasing his or her relatives didn't occur to me.

My apologies for my overly aggressive query. Thanks for your note.