Korean Job Discussion Forums

[capa21]

This is so true. My boss uses it daily. I thought it was strange but I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this.

[prosodic]

*bump*

[matthewwoodford]

As you well know, Koreans will keep on using this obnoxious phrase despite all your efforts so stop asking about it!

[casey's moon]

"As you know" is one thing, but what about "As I know?"

[matthewwoodford]

Yeah does it mean 'As far as I know' or does it mean 'I know for a fact that...' or does it not mean anything?


I can't think of anything short of electroshock therapy that would prevent Koreans from using this phrase....I like to fantasize about using electroshock therapy tho'. 'As I kn...'ZZZZAAPPPP!!!'Aaaarrghh!!'

[sid]

[matthewwoodford]

Really? Looks like a sentence ending to me.

[Hobophobic]

Hmm...yes, "as you know," and also "frankly speaking" both give me 'chicken skin' of doom.

[visviva]

I have it on fairly good authority that this common phrase is actually "���� �ʾƿ�" -- roughly translatable as "I don't have" and commonly used as a request-softener. I had always heard it as "���ݾƿ�" too, though.

Trivia: According to a 2002 study by Andrew Sangpil Byon, those who learn Korean in the US fail to acquire target-like use of this phrase and other softeners. See Korean Linguistics vol. 11, available at Seoul Kyobo and maybe one or two other places on the face of the Earth. Prof. Byon draws some conclusions from this about cross-cultural interference, Americans being more "egalitarian and individualistic." Oddly, it does not appear to have occurred to the good professor that this non-target-like usage may simply be due to students never having received explicit instruction in the pragmatics of Korean.

[the_beaver]