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Zenpickle
Joined: 06 Jan 2004
Location: Anyang -- Bisan
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 Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 7:52 am Post subject: |
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| uberscheisse wrote: |
| tomato wrote: |
If you are not bothered by children on the street greeting you in English, that's wonderful. But it is seldom constructive to scold and ridicule a person for feeling a certain way.
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why not? i mean - i'd say the majority of the people who post on this board from korea are working with children. if they get butt-hurt over kids being kids, then isn't it valid to question them and suggest they grow a little backbone?
perhaps i'm just one of those thick-skinned insensitive types who doesn't wet the bed much. |
The underlying question is not about children mocking someone.
Maybe I've grown up to be a little hyper-aware of this stuff because I'm a white southerner, and in the media and it seems anyone you talk to, whenever you talk about the south, it's all RACE, RACE, RACE. Being a white southerner, you deal with the fact that no matter how progressive you are, as soon as your accent slips or someone figures out your background, you are labeled a racist from then on.
So, I don't know. Having always been called a racist by strangers has made me do everything I can to NOT be a racist. This naturally makes me more aware of racism in general. And I've grown to believe that racism is the nastiest sin in the world.
There is a fine line between kids bothering you because they are curious and bothering you because you are their monkey.
If kids in a white neighborhood back at home went up to a black man and said, "Hey, boy," it's naive to tell the person to "grow a little backbone." |
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skinhead
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:02 am Post subject: |
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| Leslie Cheswyck wrote: |
Been here nine years, dear.
I don't "take back" the power because I don't give it up in the first place. You give up your power when you show how annoyed you are with the hello-ers.
Yes, you have digressed from the OP's point.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be getting back to work:
"Fly, my little children! Fly! Go and say 'Hello' to all the foreigners throughout the land!" |
you're a gas, sincerely. a fucken gas. bring that beat back |
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skinhead
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:23 am Post subject: |
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Why is drinking whiskey out of a glass that recently contained milk so distasteful? It's a shock to the sensibilities. But after a few whiskies, you start to feel warm. By halfway through the bottle you've forgotten all those angry feelings. Take it the same way you learned to take yer drink.
I don't give a rat's arse about kids who hello and giggle. What the hey - as long as I don't have to teach them. |
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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 8:42 am Post subject: |
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| Zenpickle wrote: |
| uberscheisse wrote: |
| tomato wrote: |
If you are not bothered by children on the street greeting you in English, that's wonderful. But it is seldom constructive to scold and ridicule a person for feeling a certain way.
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why not? i mean - i'd say the majority of the people who post on this board from korea are working with children. if they get butt-hurt over kids being kids, then isn't it valid to question them and suggest they grow a little backbone?
perhaps i'm just one of those thick-skinned insensitive types who doesn't wet the bed much. |
The underlying question is not about children mocking someone.
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It *is* about children mocking you. You're different in almost every aspect from everyone these children know. When they're mocking you -- and I will point out they are not *always* mocking -- it's because they're testing you or showing off in front of their friends. I can see why this might annoy some people, but as long as Korea is 99.9% homogeneous, it's not going to go away. Getting angry or reactionary about it will only make it worse (curse words and stones, rather than "Hello"'s and "Handsome"s), and it's a *huge* disservice to the American civil rights movement to somehow try to equate this to the historical treatment of African-Americans.
Furthermore, most of you are teachers, and as Leslie Cheswyck wrote, respect is commanded rather than demanded. Surely as children's teachers you have the wit and creativity to take rather innocuous mockery like "you handsome boy!" and turn it around.
It's such a shallow thing to get worked up over. Did you guys forget to pack your sense of humour when you flew over here? |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 02 Dec 2003
Location: japan is better than korea.
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 9:29 am Post subject: |
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| Zenpickle wrote: |
If kids in a white neighborhood back at home went up to a black man and said, "Hey, boy," it's naive to tell the person to "grow a little backbone." |
if i'm oversimplifying here, forgive me. i've had a couple to drink.
but - how can 'hello' from a bunch of boys who don't even have pubic hair yet be equated with 'hey boy'?
one is 'hey you're different, we're kind of scared of you, fascinated by you but also afraid of you at the same time because our parents aren't all that bright'.
the other is 'hey, you used to clean my house, pick my crops, your sister used to be my sex slave, and you couldn't do a thing about it. you've been 'free' for a hundred years, give or take, and as a white person i still have a little bit more leeway to mess with you than i do with another white person, ain't america great?'
apples and oranges. don't compare the two. |
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hojucandy
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
Location: In a better place
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:19 pm Post subject: |
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so what if children (or even adults) mock you (and frankly i don;t think they are) it doesn't hurt... as long as they don;t throw things at me i really don;t care what people are saying.
i admit it can be annoying sometimes, but really there is no need to let it offend yu... sometimes i answer them in another language - hindi, or indonesian...
child : hello! (giggle)
me: namaste. tum kaise ho? tum kyon angrezi me bol raha hai? tumhara zaban malum nahi? mujhe chod dunga! |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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| matko wrote: |
| a lot of them ARE mocking you. |
So what? Does your feeling of self-worth depend on a bunch of Korean kids and adults you have NEVER MET? |
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OiGirl
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: Hoke-y-gun
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Why are you mortified at being treated rudely? THEY are the ones being rude! You should feel good that you know to behave better than that! |
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skinhead
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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| OiGirl wrote: |
| Why are you mortified at being treated rudely? THEY are the ones being rude! You should feel good that you know to behave better than that! |
Yup. Good enough for me. You can't stop them, but you can control your own response. Listen to uber - THEY ARE DRAWING YOU OUT. Don't let them. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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| It's always possible to turn it around on them, but not with insults. About six years ago, a construction worker who didn't appear to be too bright started talking to me as I was walking by his construction site. I stopped and listened while he tried to amuse his friends by insulting me (something about Americans). His co-workers, probably long tired of him, told him to leave me alone. I waited until he seemed to be done before saying anything. By then, his co-workers had told him several times to stop being rude. You should have seen his face when I told him that he shouldn't talk like that to strangers and then I pointed out that I'm not even American. The guy was so embarassed that he repeatedly bowed until his chin touched his knees. His friends were laughing so hard at him that tears came to their eyes. |
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Gwangjuboy
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Location: England
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| Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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The worst situation is when you play pool in the dang gu jangs and the other Korean customers insist on shouting konglish expressions.
"Nice shot!"
"oookay!"
"Nice"
"Yeahhhhh!"
I cringe for those guys. If only they knew how stupid they sound. (usually bums as well) |
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Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
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| Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| skinhead wrote: |
"Fly, my little children! Fly! Go and say 'Hello' to all the foreigners throughout the land!" |
you're a gas, sincerely. a *beep* gas. bring that beat back[/quote]
Thanks. Yeah, and I like the part where she thought I really was in Chile because that's what I had written for my location. Duh. What if I replaced it with "In your mama's bedroom"? |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Zenpickle wrote: |
Having always been called a racist by strangers has made me do everything I can to NOT be a racist. This naturally makes me more aware of racism in general.
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I know you're getting chucked at for your "Hey Boy" comparison, but I think there's a lot to what you're saying above. And I also believe that those of us who have grown up in environments that are hypersensitive towards racial relations - and for weird historical reasons, my home neighbourhood can be considered that - tend to get more annoyed by the Korean "hey puck you ha ha" experience. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:10 am Post subject: |
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| Gwangjuboy wrote: |
The worst situation is when you play pool in the dang gu jangs and the other Korean customers insist on shouting konglish expressions.
"Nice shot!"
"oookay!"
"Nice"
"Yeahhhhh!"
I cringe for those guys. If only they knew how stupid they sound. (usually bums as well) |
Ditto.
I don't get why the presence of even just one foreigner will create this buzz or reaction among 20 or more Koreans. Your presence can sometimes change the course of conversations in a restaurant or other public place with not just a few customers.
Are they really so concerned what we few foreigners here think? We already have our own impressions anyway. And we know those types of characters, such as in the pool place, cannot speak English worth crap. If they could they would not do that. |
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