[quote name='thorbahn3']You know Cheapy, I bet Wombat would like a ipod touch for his birthday. Then he can talk about the apps with you on the show.[/quote]
I love Wombat, but I think it would be better (and more appropriate) if Cheapy got Wombat a personalized pan-handling recepticle that is monogrammed "Will game 4 fud. Wombat5277"--much more meaningful and thoughtful. Wombat will chuck an iPod after a couple of years, but give that man the proper tools and he has the skills to feed himself and his family for a lifetime.
[quote name='chi.bri']Cheapy, enough already! Stop complaining about your self imposed isolation in Japan. I think it's sad that you have made little effort to learn Japanese. I bet more Americans have spent more time to learn the language in anticipation of a visit than you have living there.[/quote]
You absolutely don't know what you're talking about. Learning Japanese as a 30-something is a huge pain in the ass. Especially since (as Cheapy has said in this thread), he's not that bright. But I did hear Cheapy bust out some Nihongo on one of the live shows a while back--he sounded like he knows how to get around with a decent level of situational phrases. He lives there because he loves his wife and her skillset it not easily transferrable outside of Japan. I've often thought of posting in the CAGbag "how do you do you live in Japan for so long, Cheapy?" But I'm sure it's that (again) he loves his wife. A LOT. But she definately needs to give him some more action. It's got to be even worse on him now that he's Mr. Mom.
Your second statement that Americans (at least the ones who aren't of immigrant descent) learn the language before they go somewhere overseas is absolutely laughable--hysterical in fact. When I moved to Japan I had pretty crappy Japanese from my public university education, but it was better than 9/10 of my colleagues who had moved there. The best among that portion of them was "arigatoo" or "sayoonara." When I moved abroad again later in life, none of my American colleagues had more than 2 words of the local language upon arrival.
Americans have among the worst levels of foreign language proficiency in the world. As a country, we expect everyone to speak our language both in our country and out. We also have among the worst foreign language education systems in secondary and tertiary education. Go to Holland--routine for your waiter (at any regular old restarant) to speak Dutch, French, German, and English--fluently. Name a city in the US where you'd get a multi-lingual waiter in the equivalent of a TGI Friday's.
To circle it around back to the beginning, you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about, my friend.