One of the curses of Japanese is that every letter and every number has multiple ways it can be pronounced but only one pronunciation is correct. That curse is also one of the fun things about Japanese.

This is called Goroawase and is often used to make phone numbers or tell jokes.

Warning: the next few paragraphs involve something resembling math.

The number 1, for example, can be pronounced “ichi” (as in “Ichiro” or “number one son”); i (as a long “e”); hito; hitotsu; or wan (as in “one”). The number “2” can be pronounced eight different ways, but for today’s purpose we’ll only use “ni” (as in the Knights Who Say Ni). The number 9 has five pronunciations, but for today we’ll use only “ku” (as in “coo coo”). When you put it all together, you can get puns. November 29, for example, is “Good meat day” because 1129 is “ii  ni ku) (ee knee coo) or “good meat”. If you say it European style you get “niku ii” or “Meat Good” which shows one of the failures of the European system.

My birthday then becomes “Veeery Good Day” Because with 1117 you have “i i i” (a stretched “good”) and “na” (pronounced with the “a” as in “father”) which is used for emphasis. But if you do it European style you get “Na iii” or “Noooooo”, confirming the failures of the European system.

My age, 48, becomes “YoHa” which isn’t funny at all. (It could also be “shiba” which also isn’t funny.)

Then you get more common jokes. 39 is “san” “kyu” or “Thank you”, which is very common in texting and social media. You also get 37 (mi na) or “everyone”.

The title of this post is a code that means Veeeery Good 48 Thank You, Everyone.

At this point, it’s bed time, so I best say “It’s time 43252 bed” or (It’s time for me to go to bed).