This is a weird one: Sharp Corp. has acknowledged that more than 10 million of its cell phones have a “software glitch that disables the handsets when certain hiragana phrases are converted into kanji when writing e-mail.”
The phrases known to freeze the phones are: “mirare makuccha,” which roughly means “people’s eyes were fixed on me,” and “kazega naori kaketa,” meaning, “I was recovering from a cold,” according to Nikkei Net, a Web-based business and information technology news site.
I’m not sure I could come up with a proper comment on this even if I didn’t have a bad case of jet lag.
sources:
- Sharp software glitch freezes cell phones, Japan Times, July 20, 2006
- PEOPLE’S EYES WERE FIXED ON ME, July 20, 2006
- 「みられまくっちゃ」でフリーズ――シャープ製端末搭載shoin4に不具合か？, HiRO’s Blog