Hangul Humor

I slept in a bit Tuesday AM as it was rainy and there wasn't much else to do. Now I am still awake and it is early Wednesday AM. So, I am going to use this time to post some of my more humorous experiences (specifically with language) here. (Hangul means Korea by the way). Enjoy---I'll try to write whatever I can remember.


-----The other day, I was talking to my Korean friend about something or other and noted of myself that I was "too picky." He responded, "What means, Pee-key?" I nearly fell over laughing. Obviously I knew what he meant, but sometimes it is just so funny how they say things.

--------Early on, one of my Korean friends said to me, "there are many nice girls here and they make me feel very vigorous." Again, I nearly got a side ache from laughing. Interesting choice of words.


-------There are counteless times it goes the other way--but the Koreans would have to tell you those stories. I've seen six year old kids fall on the floor laughing at my Korean I write on the board. It's a bit embarassing, though I'm glad I can provide the free entertainment.


---From time to time, I give the kids candy. Sometimes, they will come up to me and say, "Teacher, Change-ee." Koreans like to put eee on the end of English words. I find myself misusing English from time to time, saying things like, "change-ee," "rice-ee", "ice-cream-ee", etc. It's kind of my substitute for words I don't know in Korean as well. It's gotten me a few wierd looks and many times I make myself laugh.


---Then there is the dong 'sheen.' I don't think I'm saying it correctly. Basically, it is when a Korean child uses his fingers to make a pistol like shape and then proceeds to stick his two fingers between your two "cheeks" (not the ones on your face.....). I was appalled by this, and if they do it to me, they get tickled very hard. It is funny when they do it to another teacher......


------"Bok Boggi" (short o sounds on both words). This is Korean slang for 'bald.' I have my hair cut pretty short and the first time I cut it short here, I heard "Teacher Bok Boggi" over and over and over. If I ever want to get a kid to laugh, I'll go up to him, get right in his face, and then over enunciate "Bok Boggi" while pointing to my head. They get the biggest kick out of this.


---One of the teachers here dropped a toothbrush (or something like that) into the toilet in her apartment while it was flushing (by accident of course). I was the observer as she explained to Somonim (our director) how she could not get her toilet to flush and how her husband was sick of "using a plastic bag" for #2. Again, this might not be that funny in the states, but with the language barrier, it was a priceless conversation to listen to.


---My Korean friend Luke has always says, "okay." I will call and say something like, "do you want to come to my apartment later?" He will be like, "Okay Okay Okay Okay Okay (spoken very rapidly). Again, I have picked this up and do it as well. I thought I was supposed to be the one teaching English!


---This next one many of you will get an extra laugh at. Apparently, I have a bad habbit of "mimicking accents" of people without knowing it during conversation. I do it as a means to try and communicate with them. Growing up, I noticed it happen when I visited my cousins down south. Last summer at SDSU, I worked with many foreigners at the GIS center and I began doing it there as well. Here, it is easy to get into the habbit of leaving out certain words to communicate more clearly, especially with those that speak very little English. It sounds something like this: "Tomorrow, we, going, hospital, 11:30, ok? This is not a good habbit to get into. Apparently, I spoke this way to someone who was head of the English department at a college. I didn't know who he was, and my American friend quickly pointed out he knew good English and I "adjusted" my speach. Only later did I find out who he was. Ouch!


--"Same Same." This is another English(Korean) expression. It is there way to say two things are identical. If I play the spelling game with my students (where they race to spell a word on the board) and they finish at the same time, the students will say, "Same same." meaning "tie."
I was learning Korean the other night from my friend Luke. He told me not to write one of the Korean letters that way (as there is an order you are to make your pen strokes when you write). I was like, "Same, Same." He was like, "No! Not Same Same." About then, I started laughing. It was just too funny.

That's all for tonight. There are more where those came from---with more to come as well.

Take care and goodnight.

Jay