Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SPINOZA]

* Marriage between members of the same surname is taboo. As recently as 1997, the Constitutional Court repealed a 1308 law banning marriage between people of the same surname. At the time, inbreeding was a concern because people lived in isolated villiages for generations. Confucianism regards people of the same surname part of the same family, no matter how many generations apart.

* Seoul's population was 1 million at the end of the Korean War. Now 17 million people - approx a third of South Koreans - live in Seoul and satelite cities, which is 1.2% of the nation's total area.

* In the 1970s, police, with rulers, stopped students in the street to measure boys' hair and girls' skirts in an attempt against the spread of Western popular culture.

* In the 1980s, the Army Chief of Staff banned soldiers from drinking the ubiquitous poktanju concoction.

* Even today, South Koreans are concerned about Communist spies.

* Not enough South Korean tourists signed up for the trip to North Korea's Diamond Mountain.

* Grandparents often fondle their infant grandson's balls - a common gesture and show of affection.

* Most fathers still bequeath their assets to their sons, especially the eldest. Few daughters challenge the practice.

* Some social commentators have dubbed the stereotypical adjuma a "third sex", neither woman nor man.

* Dog meat is especially popular in North Korea, where it is called dangogi, sweet meat.

* South Korea imports foreign words, but North Korea typically does not. In South Korea, a helicopter is a helicopter, but in North Korean it is a "vehicle that takes off and goes straight up" (in Korean).

Got any more?

[semphoon]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

* President Park Chunghee was very close to developing nuclear weapons at one point and had plans to turn ROK into a nuclear power.

* Until recent times girls were often married off after age 16.

* During the occupation the Japanese attempted to exterminate Rose of Sharon trees from Korea.

* City street planning was copied from America, which is why today Korean cities have much wider streets than Japanese.

* During the occupation Japanese became the language of education in Korea, with most schools having a Japanese principal, Korean VP, and often military liason officer. Some very elderly Korans you see walking around recieved an essentially bi-lingual education.

[Mashimaro]

Harisu, the Korean transexual 'Singer' actually starred in her own tampon commercial. Her breasts are also look bigger than most Korean non-transexual women.

[Pligganease]

[ysl]

[seoulkitchen]

BINGO!!!
Getting one line is a winner, right?
One page = one line bingo, two = two line bingo, etc....

(Also, I'll admit I stretched a couple a bit, but hey, it's my first time playing....)


Bingo card courtesy of RACETRAITOR.
(Thanks for makin such a cool Dave's game!)

[tzechuk]

You *could* marry people of the same surname. You just couldn't marry someone with the *same* surname and from the *same* village. If the person was from a different village, you could marry this person even if your surnames were the same.

[SPINOZA]

[kimchi_pizza]

* Toilet paper and matches used to be (and still is) a common house warming gift EDIT: oh, and SPAM! How in the world could I forget THAT?

* Belief that a if a person reads the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a long, but good, story of ancient China) three times, they can converse on any topic.

[JeJuJitsu]

[Young FRANKenstein]

[RACETRAITOR]

[matthews_world]

According to the Korean Times there are 15.8 million registered vehicles in Korea and will surpass the 16 million mark in March. That's one for every 3 Koreans.

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200701/kt2007010514303111910.htm

[Mashimaro]