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vDroop
Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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 Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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Right, Korean age is not a measure of length.
It's the amount of calendar years they have seen.
This is why they still celebrate birthdays like we do. Only the calendar year does not change on their birthday, so how could they possible get older. (their thinking) |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 12:46 am Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
Korean age explained:
Start at birth aged 1.
Advance to the next age with the turn of each year, lockstep with everyone else. |
| redaxe wrote: |
| This is also how it was explained to me. |
Someone explained it to you? No Korean has ever provided me with a coherent explanation. It was all guesswork and deduction on my part.
Come to think of it, that statement "No Korean has ever provided me with a coherent explanation" holds true period, and not just in this case. 
| redaxe wrote: |
| However, they do also celebrate their birthdays on the (solar calendar) anniversary of their actual dates of birth. |
Yes, but their age won't go up then. Well, their Korean age, that is. Although they'll be sensitive to comments about aging... 
| redaxe wrote: |
| And yeah if you're born in December, it's possible to be "two years old" less than a month after your birth. |
You could even have twins, one born before the stroke of midnight New Year's Eve, and the other born just after: born seconds apart in time, but a year apart in Korean age.
| redaxe wrote: |
| Another interesting fact: They don't use Korean age in North Korea anymore. My friend was on a flight to Pyeongyang and he asked the North Korean stewardess how old she was. She said "18." He asked if that was in Korean age or international age. She said "What is Korean age?" He explained the concept to her. Her response: "Why would anyone do that?" |
They're more progressive and logical in North Korea in some ways. They don't use hanja any more either - and they make better beer! |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:12 am Post subject: |
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It really is pretty simple. Like others have said, you're 1 when you're born and then gain a year on new years. Some Koreans celebrate their lunar birthdays, and thus it appears to anyone following the solar calendar that their birthday is on a different day every year. Some Koreans celebrate their solar birthdays, just like the west.
The most confusion arises when a Korean talking about the lunar calendar refers to the months by English names. Someone I know told me her birthday was in December, when she actually meant the twelfth lunar month. Since Koreans' names for the months are the same for both calendars, they tend to assume the same for English speakers.
| Privateer wrote: |
| They're more progressive and logical in North Korea in some ways. They don't use hanja any more either - and they make better beer! |
Somewhat offset by rampant, misplaced nationalism and the raving lunacy that is their government trying to build nuclear weapons when half of their population is starving. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:17 am Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
| They're more progressive and logical in North Korea in some ways. They don't use hanja any more either - and they make better beer! |
South Korea would have much better beer if the beer companies didn't conspire with the government to:
1) put a 275% tariff on hops
2) have a massive minimum production to sell to the public (i.e. you have to produce x number of beer per month to legally sell it, where x is a huge number).
Korea has a free market system in many ways Canada doesn't, but stupid regulations like the above do nothing but keep out the little guy, which in turn encourages complacency with the big guys, lowering innovation and quality [/rant]. |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| cdninkorea wrote: |
| Korea has a free market system in many ways Canada doesn't, but stupid regulations like the above do nothing but keep out the little guy, which in turn encourages complacency with the big guys, lowering innovation and quality [/rant]. |
The problem in Canada being the 275% (probably more) tax on all alcoholic beverages.  |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 7:15 am Post subject: |
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| By the way, they don't just count their ages this way, they count all long periods of time this way. If you ask a Korean how long her or she has been married, for example, he or she will give you the number of years in "Korean way of counting." |
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