Wednesday, June 21, 2006

more Korean Culture tidbits

HA! "tidbits" What a funny word.

My friends and I here have commented on some of the the more frustrating/comical (in retrospect) conversations we have had. Most of them revolve around people's tendency to ask questions in the negative. In Canada, and affirmative answer to a negative question is "no" whereas in Korea, it's "yes".

Scenario 1 (in Canada):
A: We don't have any classes today, do we?
B: No

this "no" clearly means, "No we don't have any classes."

Scenario 2 (Canadian in Korea)
CDN: We don't have any classes today, do we?
KOR: Yes

so, to a Canadian, that "yes" means "Yes we do have classes" but in reality, it means "Yes, you are correct - we have no classes today."

You can just imagine the Abbott and Costello act that could happen in a situation like this. Oh mercy.
------------------------------------------
Children update:
Yesterday the girls came again (it's daily).
I was in my livingroom skillfully ignoring them when my plans were foiled.
How? you may ask...
They opened my bedroom window FROM THE OUTSIDE. How creepy is that, really?
I schooled 'em good, don't you worry. I've recently learned that "Hajima" (하지마) is the Korean way to say "Stop that" or "don't do that". I've put it to good use lately.

As for the safety of my window (mom), fear not, I only open it during the day when I'm at home and I make sure to close and lock it at night. I'm safe, except for little girls.

1 comment:

j'tan said...

Holy hell. Spammed by academes. Who'd have thunk it?

TIDBITs.