Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ralphie]

HI! I was wondering if someone - who is in the "know" about Korean manners - could verify that I did something wrong. We had a staff dinner tonight and hot soup was placed on my right-hand side, bowl of rice on my left. I moved the soup to my left, because it was easier to eat. In an instant, a coworker moved it back to my right. What happened? If it clarifies things a little, my boss was sitting on my left.

[Sector7G]

I don't think it's such a big deal(to them, at least)-more of a "this is how we do it" type of thing. But to me it used to be a big deal-having someone moving my plates and bowls around. Man, that would irritate me. One guy was even trying to show me how to hold my soup spoon. Can't a guy eat in peace?

[Jake_Kim]

[CrikeyKorea]

like if a korean picked up a fork with his right hand a knife with their left, some people would probably tell them not to, some wouldn't care.

I did get pulled up on the moving of the bowl the other day by our new cleaning ajumma at our office who is a stickler for the rules, she told me that i shouldnt drink a juice popper at the table because there was soup for drinking too... that was kinda funny[/quote]

[machoman]

i don't know if that was a faux paus or not but it shouldn't really matter since you're the foreign teacher.

i just wanted to say eating with korean teachers suck because they usually almost always choose a restaurant where you have to sit on the floor.

[cragesmure]

[treehouse]

As for the social faux pas thing, Koreans usually eat with the rice on the left side. It's similar to the way we have etiquette "standards" as we arrange our tableware in a certain way. Similarly, Koreans eat with the rice on the left side.

If you're worried about committing another mealtime mistake, don't stab your chopsticks into your rice bowl and leave them there.

[Ralphie]

[interestedinhanguk]

I've noticed rice is always served on the left side of the soup. I always move it to the right. A lot of the time, that soup bowl is searing hot (thus the boiling soup). Since I'm right-handed, like most of the world, it's pretty easy to burn myself when I'm eating out of the rice bowl on the left.

[WadRUG'naDoo]

I'd move it right back and tell him to keep his hands off my food.

[eamo]

[seirogan]

It is just a matter of ettiquette based on superstition. When food is placed for a ceremony for a deceased person the soup is placed to the left instead of the right. It is like sticking your chopsticks straight up and down in your rice or passing food from one persons chopsticks to another. Do that in front of a Korean person and you will get corrected too.

It is like when a student sneezes and I say "bless you." It has no meaning to them but it is ettiquette for us from a superstition.

[PigeonFart]

When it comes to manners;
(1) some manners make sense (hygene),
(2) but some manners are pure arbitrary BS!

[Died By Bear]

[Ralphie]

For anyone who is interested, here is a straightforward intro to Korean etiquette (see Table Manners): http://www.lifeinkorea.com/food/f-manners.cfm