6 posts tagged “engrish”
Last night I didn't have any dinner plans, so I asked my coworkers what they were doing. The conversation went something like this: (Korean is in italics)
Me: Pansy-teacher, what are you doing for dinner?
Pansy-teacher: What?
Me: Dinner. Let's eat dinner together.
Pansy-teacher: Ah. ... Hmm... No dinner. My younger brother.... (to another teacher) How do you say 'hospital' in English?
Joon, one of our 6 year-olds: Hospital!
Me: Good job, Joon! (to Pansy) Hospital? Why?
Pansy-teacher: Umm... my younger brother, go to hospital... um...-waves her hands, thinking- baby... baby open!
Me: -blinks- Huh? Your brother baby open? -trying to wrap my mind around this-
At this point i just burst out laughing, and was like, alright then. So I went to find Donald and Violet-teacher, to tell them that Pansy-teacher couldn't have dinner with us because her brother was 'baby open.'
She did end up going out to eat with us, and for the rest of the evening we teased her about it, until she put up her hands and waved them, saying, "No, no, stop, stop, stop!" Actually, we teased her after that too, and will probably continue to do so. Even the other Korean teachers thought it was funny.
Just thought I'd share. I really wish I could videotape/take pictures with my mind sometimes, and this was one of those.
Well as I was walking to get my special trash bags from the store, I passed the bakery. Their sign outside says -
The greeting is an ice cream smoothing my frozen mind.
Isn't that awesome? Engrish never ceases to amaze me. This makes no sense, but I still like the feeling of it
I didn’t exactly plan on all this stuff happening today but since it did and I needed to blog anyway, might as well write it all down.
I just finished eating my quiznos sandwich @ Jamsil and since my feet are protesting doing much else for the time being, might as well write, although eventually I should get home cause gizmo’s probably freaking out cause I’m not home yet.
I posted on the SnB list asking about knitting looms, and someone has some that they were not just getting rid of, so I went to get them after work. She lives in a traditional part of Seoul, right down the street from the largest medicine market in the country, which means it’s probably the largest in Korea. Than sounded kinda interesting so I walked that way, past lots of street vendors selling fruit, but I realized I was on the wrong side of the street. I crossed and walked down and there were lots of medicine shops, by which I mean, lots of shops with huge barrels of powders, stacks and bundles of woods and flowers and seeds and other miscellaneous plant-y goodness. I recognized some things – flowers, rose wood, ginger. It all smelled very good, though I have no idea how it’s used. It was around 630, and people were starting to close up because it was dark.
I was a little late getting off cause I was talking to Douglas and then Joseph decided to call me Siobhain-poop-teacher, so I had to set him straight. As Douglas said, nothing like bullying a 5-year-old.
At this point I’m going to interrupt myself to note that Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping” is playing here in Quiznos. Also that the sign in front of me is advertising a flatbread sandwich that’s “served with lanch dressing.”
Anyway – I reached the end of the medicine stores and the market kept going – lots of produce stalls and some butchers. Once again, I was on the wrong side. When I got over there I turned down a side alley and then had to take another one to get back to the main route. All the stalls in this part were closed, and there were only some ajuma peeling veggies. One of them said something that sounded rather annoyed at me, but I just glanced at her and kept on my merry way.
I got more stares than usual as I walked past – even though Songpa is a quiet place, it was built for the Olympics, and they ae mostly used to foreigners here. I get the occasional kid whispering to her mom about the weigukin (foreigner) and sometimes people say hello to me in the street (both of which happened to me today). But rarely do I get blatant double-takes. It must be what I’m wearing. I have on my brown boots, which make me about 2 inches taller – I realized while on the subway that I was taller than pretty much everyone. And with that is my brown fuzzy sweater and my long skirt with the orange flowers. Maybe it’s the skirt. As much as Koreans tend to not wear long skirts like mine, I always get comments about them. SohJin and a bunch of the kids commented on it today. But other than that I had at least 4 people call me pretty today, that I heard.
The first was a group of vendors who stopped me as I walked past. They offered me a drink, some kind of milky rice alcohol, and when I told them I couldn’t drink it the game me some dried squid and anchovies instead. They were very friendly, and I guess surprised to see me.
I kept going and when I came out, I saw what I was looking for – pomegranates! A few places had them and they seem to go far $3. Altho when I got here I saw them for 2380 won a piece, and also that I was pronouncing them wrong, which would explain why people didn’t know what I was asking for.
I kept walking past another vendor who called me pretty and a drunk salaryman who tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hello I love you” as he staggered by with his cohorts. Eventually, I got to the next station, which connects to my subway line.
Another Q-music update – A remix of “Get Down On It.”
In the train station was another unexpected thing – a woman selling baked goods. And she had chocolate chip cookies! I’d been craving those – I keep not buying them at the grocery store. Of course, they aren’t as good as the ones Bethany and Fareen and I make, but they’re still yummy.
I got on the train, but had to transfer at a place I’d never been before, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t get on the wrong train. So I stopped to look for a sign, and an ajushi asked me where I was going. When I told him, he said he was going to the same train. He was very nice and repeatedly told me I was beautiful. I still find such things creepy, esp. when, say, my principal does it, but I just smile and say thank you.
Q-music update – Ace of Base, “The Sign”
He asked me if I was a student, and when I told him I was a teacher, he told me a joke. Apparently the English teachers are called ET. Yes, like extra-terrestrial. I guess it makes sense – we are technically aliens. We talked about Japanese literature until he got off. When I got here I decided to come to Quiznos for dinner and it took me a few minutes to decipher which exit to take, but I figured it out and ended up near the bookstore, which was having a sale on puzzles. I got one of Starry Night. Hopefully it will be good – I haven’t done a puzzle in a long time. I missed them.
Today was such an acquisitionary day, and I met lots of people. Dried fish, pomegranates, knitting looms, cookies, puzzle… I need to go home and do my nails and some emails.
Okay, yeah, I didn't need to buy anymore shirts. But I saw this, and it had cute flowers and was $5. And then I looked at the text, and realized, yes, I really did need to buy it.
Please note the lyrics from the Pink song, "Get This Party Started". Although, I'm wondering if, because they spelled 'up' as 'yp', does it really count as a violation? If I had Pink's address, I would totally send her this shirt. As it is, I will enjoy wearing it on my own...
Also! Before I forget! Today's Korean Word of the Day is
sadari = ladder
This from Lily Class
Neechan, another video is on the way. Stop freaking. If all else fails, there's always CuteOverload. She's not really being cute right now - more annoying. She's trying to climb on my computer, even though I keep repeatedly putting her back on the floor. here's a pic for you though.
in case you can't see the image: 'We're the 1% (only anarchists are pertty) who don't FIT and don't care." Rnainc.SlangMF
I'm not really sure about the last part, but it's fairly amazing.
on the subway last weekend - and i wish i could have taken a pic but that would have been just too obvious.
NYPD - Nothing is more despitable than respect based on ear.
Damn straight. Sure can't have Al-Qaeda getting any of that respect based on ear. Good thing they aren't a musical group...
Can someone say, 'printing mixup that we decided to sell to stupid foreigners who don't know English'?
