The pinnacle of polite

Tim Bunting AKA Kiwi Yamabushi on Zao-san

With utmost consideration

The Japanese word for polite, teinei, also doubles as the Japanese word for thorough. To do something politely is to do a thorough job on it, it’s to do it to the best possible standard you know exists. Therefore, to be polite means to do something with the utmost consideration. Polite is just another word for considerate.

Of course, definitions of considerate depend entirely on the context and situation, but being thorough doesn’t have to. And who knows, it might just be the pinnacle of polite too.

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Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

Tim Bunting Kiwi Yamabushi

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Sakata City, Yamagata, Japan 

tim@timbunting.com

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