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Funny things Koreans believe in:
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Ilsanman



Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are so adamant about NOt doing those things, you can do as you wish after he goes out to work. But it's nice to not have to fight for it.

I was told that the MIL on the woman's side can always guess the gender. She was wrong. She said boy. We have a girl.

Apparently, if you ask a child of 4 the gender of an unborn baby, the child will guess it correctly almost every time.

KumaraKitty wrote:
Hubby grew up in Texas, and has not abandoned his American beliefs and sensibilities, Thank God! That means after I give birth I CAN shower and I DON'T have to eat seaweed soup 5 times a day in rooms with the temperature set to over 30 degrees! Yeah!

I've encountered some interesting beliefs being pregnant.
1. My doctor believes I am a high risk pregnancy because I am white. In Western culture we are advised to take supplements of Folic Acid to prevent neural tube defects. In Korea they don't, so even though I am taking them she is terrified our baby will have a problem.

2.They believe certain dreams will tell if you are having a male or female.

3.That the baby will want to eat what the father likes so my cravings will all be for my husbands favorite foods.

4.If I don't eat walnuts everyday, my child will have a small brain.(Walnuts do contain Omega 3 fatty acids, in small amounts, but one students mother spent 50,000won on a bag of walnuts for me!! It was a small bag, the walnuts were shelled but intact, kinda like how the squirrels do in Charlie and the Chocolate factory.)

Now, I'm not sure if these are solely Korean, but I found them interesting.
As for the ambi-dextrous thing, my hubby was left handed. Grandma drilled him till he became right handed, but now he can use chopsticks, write, everything with both hands. Pretty cool!
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Young FRANKenstein



Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oreovictim wrote:
I'll mention it to some of my Korean friends, and they'll say, "Oh, well they are just too afraid or they're too worried about their English skills."

I get that answer, too. Only one problem with it: I wasn't speaking English.
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Oreovictim



Joined: 23 Aug 2006

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Young FRANKenstein wrote:
Oreovictim wrote:
I'll mention it to some of my Korean friends, and they'll say, "Oh, well they are just too afraid or they're too worried about their English skills."

I get that answer, too. Only one problem with it: I wasn't speaking English.


Yeah, me, too. I spoke to those rude people in Korean. Although my pronunciation is horrible for some, who am I kidding?, a lot of words, I have mastered how to say, "hello" and "goodbye" in Korean. I think that all of these women were just annoying, racist princess types.

I told my Korean friend to teach me how to say, "Hey, you're being unfriendly. I'm going to tell your mom!" But he refused. He told me that since these people happened to be over 23, I'm supposed to be respectful and never say anything back, blah, blah. Whatever.
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bizrandom



Joined: 23 Oct 2007
Location: Busan

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If your a phan of phish, you should check out Umphrey's Mcgee, the disco biscuits, sts9, tea leaf green etc. There are a ton of good bands that are coming up that are as rightous as phish was (in the early - mid 90's)
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Newbie



Joined: 07 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kermo wrote:


I'm totally up for a thread on funny things Canadians believe. It's not racist-- it's just noticing what makes our cultures different. Nobody's saying Western thought is perfect. However, an outside perspective does sometimes make some commonly-held beliefs seem silly. I think a closed culture like Korea is particularly susceptible to this kind of thing, as Koreans are very loyal to "uri nara" (and thus not so interested in outside ideas) and not encouraged to question their elders, thus some unfounded beliefs linger.


Amen sister!!

Some people are way too frickin' anal. They play the retarded "you're racist" card for every frickin' thing people say.

Grow up and stop being so damn PC
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Jizzo T. Clown



Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Location: at my wit's end

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Newbie wrote:


Some people are way too frickin' anal. They play the retarded "you're racist" card for every frickin' thing people say.

Grow up and stop being so damn PC


Stop bashing the country that supports you then. How come anytime someone comes to the defense of the Korean people they're labeled as "anal" or "an apologist?" Jesus, they're just people like everyone else.

Who the hell are you people to look at them like little children or pets: "Awww...those Koreans and their silly little beliefs. They're so cute! It's all in good fun, they just don't know any better."

And Newbie--agreeing with kermo isn't going to get you laid so stop trying.
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markhan



Joined: 02 Aug 2006

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mercury wrote:
that by 2020 korea will be one of the top five economies in the world.

HA HA HA HA HA HAH HA HA HA HA HAH HA HA HA. sorry.


I remember that study. It was done by one of the top banking institutes in Sweden (or was it Switzerland?) And it predicted that the followiing countries will have biggest GNP by 2020.

1. China
2. US
3. Japan
4. Germany
5. Korea

The study was done not taking account of rise of BRICs and other factors but it was neverthless respectable study.

Anyway, why are you accusing Korean of this? I haven't met one Korean who belived above study anyway. You are talking about people who constantly complain of "recession" when their economy is growing by healthy 5%.
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crusher_of_heads



Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oreovictim wrote:
I think it's funny when I run into a rude Korean who won't respond to a greeting. (The *beep* behind the electronics counter at Homever, the *beep* at the bowling alley, the *beep* at the travel agency, etc.)

I'll mention it to some of my Korean friends, and they'll say, "Oh, well they are just too afraid or they're too worried about their English skills."


No, it's because they are backwards, xenophobic, useless, smelly turds.
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venus



Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not looking down on Koreans, just find this thing they believe in funny.

- If you do something, make sure you do it quickly. This is actually a national proverb, or so says my school's 'ethics' teacher.

Opposite to British - If you are going to do something, take time to do it properly.

The bally bally culture does boggle my mind at times.
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SPINOZA



Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you shake your leg, you won't have any luck.

If you whistle at night, a snake will appear.

If you eat 'mi yuk gook' before an exam, you will fail.

If a man's friends allow him to pour his own alcoholic drink, his bachelor friends won't be able to get married.

If you place a spoon upside down, you won't have any luck.

If you eat nuts at the April full moon, you'll feel cool in the summer.

When you pull out a tooth, unless you throw it on the roof, you won't get any new teeth.

If your friend draws on your face while you are sleeping, your soul cannot return to your body and you will never wake up.

If a high school girl eats 3 eggs before sleeping, at 2am she will be able to see the face of her future husband in her dreams. One egg? No way. Two eggs? Get real. Four eggs? Never. But THREE eggs? Now you're talking.

You shouldn't eat out of a cracked dish or you will have bad luck.
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ronin



Joined: 08 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Korean guys are not c()ck blockers.
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cj1976



Joined: 26 Oct 2005

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

British man are all gentlemen, even though I'm constantly thinking of some profoundly un-gentlemanly behaviour with Korean women.
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VanIslander



Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why are Koreans so often surprised when I say I don't drink coffee?
Why are Koreans so often surprised when I say i don't like hamburgers?
Why are Koreans so often surprised when I say I like spicy food? (e.g., dangcho gimbap, gimchi dzigae, mayoon tang)
Why are Koreans so often surprised when I say there are four seasons in my home town?

It is at times like these (very common over here) that I wonder how rigid and totalizing are the generalities Korean believe.

Those of us from Western universities tend to think of generalities as applying to a percentage not a totality, as being prone to numerous exceptions.

Too often to be just fluke, I've noticed that many Koreans, even educated Koreans, expect foreigners to almost 100% adhere to the generalities they attribute to them.

I am hard pressed to find a parallel prejudice held back home toward certain foreigners.

Perhaps it's just a lack of experience with diversity that Koreans have.
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Jizzo T. Clown



Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Location: at my wit's end

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

VanIslander wrote:


I am hard pressed to find a parallel prejudice held back home toward certain foreigners.


That's easy:

Mexicans live three families to a house and ride three families to a van.

Jews are tight with money and will do their best to squeeze every penny out of you.

British people have bad teeth but make excellent villains in action movies.

Asians in general are the world's worst drivers.

Anyone of middle eastern descent is to be considered a potential terrorist threat.

Indians are either taxi drivers, convenience store clerks, or (if they come from a wealthy family) own a motel.

not saying I agree with these, mind you...just that they exist.
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Ilsanman



Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea

PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have heard most of these myself. Of course they are true some of the time, but untrue at least 50% of the time, if not more.

What shocks me is the sheer amount of people that believe superstitions, mainly fan death.

Some study came out recently, saying that 30% or so of Americans believe in ghsosts and UFO's. So what? 95% of Koreans (guessing from people I know) or more believe in fan death. Including educated people, doctors, scientists, etc. I bet out of that 30% of Americans, a larger portion of them are undereducated people.

Jizzo T. Clown wrote:
VanIslander wrote:


I am hard pressed to find a parallel prejudice held back home toward certain foreigners.


That's easy:

Mexicans live three families to a house and ride three families to a van.

Jews are tight with money and will do their best to squeeze every penny out of you.

British people have bad teeth but make excellent villains in action movies.

Asians in general are the world's worst drivers.

Anyone of middle eastern descent is to be considered a potential terrorist threat.

Indians are either taxi drivers, convenience store clerks, or (if they come from a wealthy family) own a motel.

not saying I agree with these, mind you...just that they exist.
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