Learn Japanese with Calvin and Hobbes – January 13 2026

Speaker: Mom
“Mom, can I take up the floorboards in my room and make a secret passageway?”
（お母さん、部屋の床板を外して秘密の通路を作ってもいい？）
(Okaasan, heya no yuka ita o hazushite himitsu no tsuuro o tsukurute mo ii?)
Vocabulary: 秘密 (ひみつ) — secret
Note: The idea of a “secret” in childhood reflects imaginative playfulness in Japanese culture.

Speaker: Mom
“Of course not, Calvin. Don’t be ridiculous.”
（そんなわけないでしょ、カルビン。馬鹿なこと言わないで。）
(Sonna wake naidesho, Karubin. Baka na koto iwanaide.)
Vocabulary: 馬鹿 (ばか) — ridiculous
Note: Calling something “baka” conveys strong emotional dismissal in casual contexts.

Speaker: Calvin
“Why can’t I?”
（なんでできないの？）
(Nande dekinai no?)
Vocabulary: できない (できない) — can’t do
Note: The use of できない indicates frustration at being denied something possible in his view.

Speaker: Mom
“Because you’d come right through the kitchen ceiling. I said don’t do it.”
（だって、キッチンの天井を突き抜けちゃうから。やめてって言