Ah, The Delightful Quirks Of Language

I’ve been living in Japan for eight years, and I teach English to private students. I specialize in beginners and people with little confidence in their English ability, as they’re the kind of students I find the most fun and rewarding to work with, but I also teach more advanced students. 

New students often get a little flustered due to the one-on-one nature of our lessons; they worry because they can’t answer me RIGHT NOW. I’m fine with this and have developed a kind of autopilot response; the student says, “Just a moment!” etc., and I always say, “Sure, no problem. You can have all the moments you want.”

I’m teaching a Japanese woman who did a homestay in England some years back. In this case, she’s not floundering for an answer — her English is at a pretty high level and she’s very much not shy about using it — but rummaging for something in her bag.

Student: “Just a sec!”

I reply completely on autopilot and seriously not thinking.

Me: “Sure, no problem. You can have all the secs you— WAIT, NO! THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!”

Fortunately for me, she was too busy searching her bag to hear; otherwise, I’d never have been allowed to live it down!