Perhaps He Should Have Taken A Language Tape Course Instead

It looked to passengers for all the world like a suicide note in the making. A 60-year old Japanese man aboard United 1184 from Chicago O'Hare to Columbus (OH) was seen scribbling the words "suicide bomb" on a piece of paper just before take-off.

The passenger next to him became concerned and alerted the cabin crew. The captain got wind of the note, promptly turned his aircraft around and returned to the gate.

Authorities took all 120 passengers off the aircraft and arrested the Japanese man on a charge of making an inappropriate remark.

That's when they learned, as Paul Harvey would say, the "rest of the story."

"He happened to be reading [a magazine] that said suicide bomb, " Chicago Police Sgt. Philip Deerig told the Chicago Tribune. "He didn't understand these two words. He wrote them down and the passenger next to him got a little scared. It was just an honest mistake."

The man was allowed to reboard the aircraft, which left three hours late.

FMI: www.united.com