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Yu_Bum_suk

Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:25 pm Post subject: The tree-slapper |
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Has anyone seen this before?
Last week I was walking home in the evening and just down the road from my place there was an ajosshi slapping a tree. He had taken his coat off and was standing on the sidewalk abut two feet back from the three, slapping it full-on with his right and left hands. Slap slap slap slap, right left right left it went on and on. When he saw me approaching he moved to the side so I could continue walking by. Did he have to let off steam or something? Well, better the tree than his wife or kids I guess.
Last night when walking home he was there again at the same tree slapping away. This time when he saw me coming he suddenly stopped and leaned up against the tree, as if I hadn't seen him just slap the tree twenty times and might think he was just stopping for a rest.
Has anyone else seen this in Korea before? Is it some sort of Korean excercise technique? Or is this just yet another thing I've seen in Korea that I've never seen anywhere else? |
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kimchi story

Joined: 23 Nov 2006
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I've seen that. It kills me. I assume it's the same thing that the guy at the airport was doing last time I was there - random hand clapping. Heavy breathing, a little grunting and random hand clapping. His wife looked a little sheepish at first, but then got into it too. My guess? It's a blood circulation exercise.
I assume it's not an unfortunate literal interpretation of a new idiom in his phrasebook, and that the treeslapper is not just spankin' his wood...but that's joke I make when I see a tree slapper:
Don't do that in public, that's dirty... |
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ilovebdt

Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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Could it be one of those trees which Koreans collect the sap from to make some syrup or other?
Maybe he was slapping it to increase production
ilovebdt |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Near Seoul
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, seen it a lot, it's for circulation and possibly tension release I guess. I mean that's usually what beating your wood is about huh? Couldn't resist the bad joke, I'm childish, bored and listening to old prince songs, alphabet street, yeah, I'm gonna drive, my daddies thunderbird...
I love seeing the adjuma's throwing themselves stomach first into the trees too... great!
I think that's for strengthening the abs I guess...
Anyone seen that one... |
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kat2

Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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I haven't seen the slapping, but the bumping into them over and over is so that they can get some of the tree's "Chi" or life force or whatever you want to call it. It's one of those "let's commune with nature by beating the hell out of it" things. |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Near Seoul
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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kat2 wrote: |
I haven't seen the slapping, but the bumping into them over and over is so that they can get some of the tree's "Chi" or life force or whatever you want to call it. It's one of those "let's commune with nature by beating the hell out of it" things. |
Nah, you're kidding me right..? Really, you heard that.... |
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kimchi story

Joined: 23 Nov 2006
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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venus wrote: |
I love seeing the adjuma's throwing themselves stomach first into the trees too... great!
I think that's for strengthening the abs I guess...
Anyone seen that one... |
Yeah I think the korean name for that one is 'jumping on the big wood' - it's a popular one.
Ohhhh no no no (shaking head and averting eyes) - next on the roster - fart noises and poo jokes.
Last edited by kimchi story on Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Zolt

Joined: 18 May 2006
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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Tree slapping? Seeing it all the time.. They do it to ward off fan death. |
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Corporal

Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:40 pm Post subject: Re: The tree-slapper |
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Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
Well, better the tree than his wife or kids I guess.
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Or you, because no doubt you would have turned into a punishing whirlwind that laid the smackdown on his 55 kilo ass and sent him back into the 16th century where he comes from! And then you would have gotten deported or had to pay blood money! Happens all the time. Best not to mess with whitey. |
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JeJuJitsu

Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Location: McDonald's
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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venus wrote: |
I love seeing the adjuma's throwing themselves stomach first into the trees too... great!
I think that's for strengthening the abs I guess...
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No, I have not seen that one, but I would pay money for video of it. |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Near Seoul
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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JeJuJitsu wrote: |
venus wrote: |
I love seeing the adjuma's throwing themselves stomach first into the trees too... great!
I think that's for strengthening the abs I guess...
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No, I have not seen that one, but I would pay money for video of it. |
Sometimes they stand side on to the tree and throw themselves side on into the tree trunk... Or instead of throwing, kind of swinging their hips and smacking their trunk into the tree...I think this is for the obliques...
Fun. |
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kat2

Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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venus wrote: |
quote]
Sometimes they stand side on to the tree and throw themselves side on into the tree trunk... Or instead of throwing, kind of swinging their hips and smacking their trunk into the tree...I think this is for the obliques...
Fun. |
Thats what I'm talking about with the "chi" thing. I read it one of the newspapers several months ago. |
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JeJuJitsu

Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Location: McDonald's
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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venus wrote: |
JeJuJitsu wrote: |
venus wrote: |
I love seeing the adjuma's throwing themselves stomach first into the trees too... great!
I think that's for strengthening the abs I guess...
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No, I have not seen that one, but I would pay money for video of it. |
Sometimes they stand side on to the tree and throw themselves side on into the tree trunk... Or instead of throwing, kind of swinging their hips and smacking their trunk into the tree...I think this is for the obliques...
Fun. |
I can imagine it, but I wish to God (if there is one), that someone posts a video of this on YouTube. Where do you think sightings of this creature would be most likely? Park? Bike path (that Koreans use for walking)? |
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kat2

Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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Most often in those "exercise areas" they have at the hiking trails in the mountains. I went with my co-workers for mandatory fun a while back. I was trying not to laugh at loud. |
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JeJuJitsu

Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Location: McDonald's
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Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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kat2 wrote: |
Most often in those "exercise areas" they have at the hiking trails in the mountains. I went with my co-workers for mandatory fun a while back. I was trying not to laugh at loud. |
Ok, when they are hip-checking the trees, where does the "Chi" enter their bodies? |
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