Can You Say 'Tone Deaf' In Japanese?

Another fun factoid from a letter to the FT this week: "The hot new word in Japan is KY. An abbreviation for kuuki-yomenai, it literally means 'unable to read the air.'"

Very useful in explaining why, e.g., John Thain initially asked for a $10 million bonus even as he decorated his office lavishly with taxpayer funds. As the letter writer puts it, "he was astoundingly KY."