On Thu, 3 Oct 1996, Graffiti wrote:

You ever have one of those days?...

Flipping through my English-Japaese dictionary, I found out the following 
desterbing fact:

IN JAPANESE, "KASUMI" MEANS "HAZE"!

Take heart!  Kasumi is also a name of a flower.  Of course, I don't
remember if the Kasumi in R1/2 is written as "haze" or "flower".  I
think those two characters are different... oh well.

I think it is written haze -- the cloud pun goes throughout all the Tendo
names Soun (fast cloud), Kasumi-gumo (hazy cloud), Nabiki-gumo 
(fluttering/waving cloud), and Akane-gumo (red cloud)  

As a matter of fact (checks kanji dictionary) the kasumi for haze and the
flower are the same -- the flower (baby's breath) is actually
kasumi-sou (char. for grass second).  So that's that.

Too late!  I can already see those vague-empty-eyed-Kasumi 'fics pouring
in. ;)

But we already had these anyhow... Though *haze* is not usually applied to
people the way it is in English; the poetic definition of _kasumi_ implies
that it is seen at a distance, though up close it seems ephemeral; 
actually fits pretty well with the "Kasumi is actually a genius" 
counter-theory.

--bengman