Fished

The other day, in a conversation with someone totally kankei nai to the mission, I said, "We set up a time to meet when I was in town, but then he totally fished me." I had to stop, backtrack a little, and explain what "fished" meant.

"You see, once I was a missionary in Okinawa Japan where there were a lot of people who fished . . ."

My wife, a linguistics major, tells me English is unique in that it is more adaptable than any other language, and thus has the most tango of all the languages. It fascinates me to think of how the senkyoshi usage of "fished" came into being. Obviously it stemmed from a need. The closest equivalent I can think of to "fished" is "Stood up". But "stood up", to me at least, has a more romantic disappointment connotation. Senkyoshis needed a more platonic way to express being "stood up" . . . . because , let's face it, it was a daily occurrence. And thus "fished" was adapted to suit the need.

The Japan Fukuoka Mission Alumni Site's Missionary Vocabulary section has an entry for "Fished" though the definition only reads, "see Spoked".

I kinda wish everyone used "Fished" the way we did, that way I could say it as often as I want.