Ever wonder why salmon is called ‘sake’, as in ‘Nigiri sake’, and the rice wine (that’s really a beer) you drink with it is called ‘sake’ too?

Apparently the Japanese language is just rife with homophones. ‘Kiki’, for example, means ‘chrysanthemum’, ‘to be effective’ and ‘to listen to’. It’s complex.

But there’s more! From this Japan Times Online report on the decline of the Japanese language we learn the following:

“Anata Setsumei Dekimasu ka (Can You Explain It?)” on TBS (Wednesdays, 7:25 p.m.) asks hapless celebrity contestants to try to explain the difference between frequently confused words or phrases in Japanese. In one recent episode, for example, viewers learned the difference between sake (salmon, the fish itself) and shake (salmon after it has been prepared for human consumption).

All we need now is a recipe that combines fish and drink, cause we all know fish must swim (three times, in water, butter and wine). Ah, there we go.