Korean Job Discussion Forums

flakfizer · Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:33 am Post subject: oh, pilsung candidate

Anyone else tired of the "oh pilsung Korea" mantra? I'm not just talking about the actual cheer for Korea (we'll get plenty of that in a few weeks), but these days every (yes every) candidate has taken this cheer and so cleverly adapted it to go, "oh, pilsung [candidate's name]" I hear it in my neighborhood. I hear it near my work in another gu. Everywhere I go I hear this chant, "Oh pilsung Kim Bo Yun" "Oh, pilsung Paek Do Jun" and so on. I hear an awful lot of "daehanminguk" being adapted to cheer for candidates too.

Unreal · Joined: 01 Jul 2004 Location: Jeollabuk-do

Totally. Every morning at 7 AM they pull up outside my apartment and blare that song over and over and over. Pretty original that every candidate and his dog uses the same song.

tomato · Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:59 am Post subject:

I wonder how that recording company customizes so many clients.
The instrumental track should be no problem, since the instrumental part is the same for all customers.
Of course, it is easier to insert candidate's names and city names into the lyrics than it would be in English, because most candidate's names have three syllables and most city names have two syllables.

But do they have to call the entire chorus to sing those syllables every time they get a new client?
Or is it possible to feed those syllables in electronically?

tweeterdj · Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Location: Gwangju

i don't know of a way to make singers electronically. if you could, chorus lines would be out of a job! however, if you were to pile up all the clients you could who wanted that song, it would take half a day to pump out 20-30 different versions of the song with different cities and client names. pretty good business for a studio...

animalbirdfish · Joined: 04 Feb 2004

Slightly off topic, but not by much...

One of my clients was telling me yesterday that Samsung went and made a pop song using their Klassic Konglish "Bravo Your Life" slogan. And the song became a top hit in Korea. Anyone else heard of this or of the song? I found it appalling and hard to believe, but given the state of Korean pop music, didn't totally discount it.

Lizara · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Seoul

Also a bit off topic maybe, but I'm curious... what do those numbers on the banners mean? And why do I see lots of 1,2,3,6,7,8 but no 4 or 5?

I don't get the trucks by my apartment so much as it's kind of a back alley, but they drive by my school approximately once every ten minutes. I'll be glad when this election is over.

tomato · Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 6:42 am Post subject:

Hello, Lizara!

Good observation!
I didn't notice that.
I don't know about 5, but I can probably explain why there aren't any 4's.
사 is the Sino-Korean word for four, but it is also the Sino-Korean word for death.
So 4, instead of 13, is the unlucky number in Korea.
You might notice that there is an F in place of 4 on Korean elevators.

Lizara · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Seoul

Neil · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Location: Tokyo

I think (although am far from certain) the number relates to the party.

The Uri trucks I've seen have all been 1, Hana Ra have been 2 (or is it the other way round, my memorys shot thesdays) and I assume the other numbers are for minor parties or inderpendants.

EFLtrainer · Joined: 04 May 2005

I know this is Korea, but I'm going for a full-on logical explanation Twisted Evil

: They are the candidate ballot numbers?

tomato · Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:37 pm Post subject:

Hello again, Lizara!

I took a trip to Hongseong today.
I noticed a banner for 김선태 on one store and a banner for 김 석환 on the store across the street.
Both had 5 as the 기호 numbers.

Those two are probably competitors on the business front also.

I didn't see any 4's.

Lizara · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Location: Seoul

I've now seen a couple of 4s. Not nearly as many as the other numbers though.

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

They are the ballot numbers. The candidates appear with those same numbers on the actual ballots. So you get guys giving the "thumbs up" sign in their photos if they're candidate No.1, the "bunny ears" if they're No. 2, and I've seen the "o.k." hand signal once, but it may be dangerously close to an obscene sexual gesture, and so forth. Or fourth.

One candidate in my area promises to turn Jongno into the "Gangnam of the North (side of the Han River)!" My dogs and I peed on his banner.

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

pet lover · Joined: 02 Jan 2004 Location: not in Seoul

Some of those campaigning idiots set up not far from my classroom on Tuesday (not Friday because today is NOT Saturday) and started blaring their loudspeakers and doing their very unimaginative, monotonous dance while shouting.

I got them back. I put the CD player up to the open window, popped in a Ricky Martin CD I had bought long ago when a class wanted to study one of his songs, and BLASTED Livin' La Vida Volca among others at full volume. The kids and I looked at the dancers and pretended that they were dancing to OUR music which made the whole thing hysterical.

Guys in suits kept approaching our building and looking up, trying to figure out where the music was coming from, but I guess they never did. Was great to see the long line of dancers looking around and trying to figure out what to do. After three of Ricky's songs, they turned their volume way down and so did I. Then they disbanded and left.

I felt like I had triumphed. It was a wonderful feeling to finally give some noise back to those people. Very Happy

EDITED because I don't know the days of the week.