hai

Most confusingly, in Finnish (and German, I've been told), "hai" means "shark". This word apparently comes from Swedish word "haj".

Gypsies (at least according to linguistic stereotype, I don't know that much about actual usage) use it as a greeting in here. Indeed, this is how "hi!" sounds like, right?

(A really, really, really old and stupid joke that even the Pharaohs thought was ancient involves a scared Finnish swimmer quickly swimming for the beach and a gypsy who was swimming with him...)

Often beleived to be 'Yes' in Japanese, this is not quite accurate. It is better to think of Hai as 'that is right', and its negative counterpart, Iie, as 'that is wrong'. Why? The Japanese think of them this way. When answering a negative question in english, you do something like this:

"The air conditioner is not working, is it?"
'NO, it is not.'
Or
"The air conditioner is not working, is it?"
'YES, it is (working).'

the Japanese would answer this way:
"The air conditioner is not working, is it?"
'YES, it is not.'
Or
"The air conditioner is not working, is it?"
'NO, it is (working).'

Seem confusing? Not when you realize that Hai is 'that is right', and Iie is 'that is wrong':

"The air conditioner is not working, is it?"
'That is RIGHT, it is not.'
Or
"The air conditioner is not working, is it?"
'That is WRONG, it is (working).'