There was an amusing story in the New York Times Magazine. It was about a Japanese woman who was recounting a meeting with a man whom she abruptly described using the English word "jerk." The person writing the story asked her how to say "jerk" in Japanese.

"There's no such word," the woman answered helplessly. "We have to use [the English word] jerk.''" It's not as if there are no jerks in Japan. But the Japanese language is just not made for sniping at people. Guess what Japanese drivers …