Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ebrann]

I've witnessed this phenomenon hundreds of times, and I've never understood where it came from and why it exists. It is simply this: when a Korean student runs to catch a bus or cross a street before the light changes, chances are he will run with his arms straight down to his side, not bending his elbows and running upright, not leaning forward. Why is that? I've not traveled extensively, but I've seen it only in Korea, never in the US or anywhere else I have spent time. I've never seen it in the West.

I say "he" above because I almost never see this posture when girls run to catch a bus. They normally lean forward and bend their elbows slightly when they run. But guys almost always execute some form of the Straight Arm Trot.

I've taken to rating trots on a ten-point scale like figure skaters. I was riding in the professors' bus at my university when it approached a stop to pick up another group, and an older prof executed a perfect 10 to catch the bus. He ran straight upright, his arms straight at his sides perpendicular to the ground and not moving, his palms flat and parallel to the ground. In addition , he had a cigarette clenched in his teeth. It was the Kim Yuna version of the Straight Arm Trot. Utter perfection.

Most students score 9.3's and 9.4's when they run after a bus. Their arms flail too much, perhaps because of their backpack flopping around, but they manage to keep them relatively straight. Too much lean gets points taken off.

I saw one student recently, perhaps a first year high schooler, run across a main thoroughfare as the light was turning, and he managed a solid 9.8. I was very impressed. It was the best so far this year.

Does the Straight Arm Trot exist outside Korea? Is it taught to elementary school kids? Why do Korean students and adults run this way? And why only males, not females?

Help me out here. Please. I just want to know.