One of them was quarreling with my brothers. I have two brothers, one elder and one younger, both three years apart. Three years of age difference is quite big when you are a kid. We used to fight over everything - TV channels, toys, who gets to sit in the front seat of the car, who gets to push or ride the shopping cart, who gets the first scoop of the ice-cream, etc. When we start a quarrel, I would switch to English.
There was a clear reason why I did this. Speaking English, I felt more aggressive and I could stand equal with my big brother.
When I call my brother in Japanese, I would have to say "お兄ちゃん (onii - chan)" which means "big brother + suffix for familiar person", and calling him that way, I would have to accept the fact that I was younger and smaller than him. Whereas in English, I could call him by just by his name or use the second person pronoun "you".
In Japanese it is not so common to address a person who is older than you in a second person pronoun, let alone just by his or her name. It would be considered as rude. If you had to address a person older than you by his or her name, you would have to put say the name with an honorific. Also in Japanese, not just "mother" or "father", but there are words for "big brother" and "big sister", so the family hierarchy is firmly planted in the younger siblings once they start speaking.
In the quarrel, it felt good to be able to just blurt out my brother's name. I was not the little sister, I was standing equal. I felt more powerful speaking English.
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