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LexLibra
Joined: 09 Jun 2006
Location: in the library
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 Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 1:42 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Obsession with Sameness |
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perhaps your cooking is bad? Another korean basher, is this what we need?[/quote]
She ain't no Korea basher from what I can see in this thread. Jinju, misreading all the cues, once again...[/quote]
No, you've hit the nail on the head. I'm a Korean-bashing Aspie troll with bad cooking.
I admit my cooking is not teriffic, but what about turning down a big, fat juicy burger straight off the Memorial Day grill because it doesn't taste like McD's? Or condemning new pasta sauces at restaurants because they don't taste like the sauces he's used to? And assuming they're therefore "bad."
I'm only making a big deal about this because it's gotten to be a problem. I have to cook a limited number of foods exactly the same way each time, or we go to only the same restaurants where he orders the exact same things. No variations. He's bored, I'm bored. There's probably no solution to it. I just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar with their Korean spouse and what they did about it. If no one has, that's OK too. Quite possibly he'll try something new when he gets bored enough. Thanks. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:49 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Obsession with Sameness |
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Here's the problem I think a lot of us saw in the OP. It's not that she's bashing Korea at all. It's that she's drawing conclusions about the larger population based on one person.
If I drew conclusions about Koreans based on my significant other, I'd think the following:
1) Koreans love cats.
2) Koreans don't care about money or careers.
3) Koreans hate soccer.
4) The most popular music in Korea is pyschobilly.
5) And of course, Koreans don't like Korean food much. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:51 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Obsession with Sameness |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
Here's the problem I think a lot of us saw in the OP. It's not that she's bashing Korea at all. It's that she's drawing conclusions about the larger population based on one person.
If I drew conclusions about Koreans based on my significant other, I'd think the following:
1) Koreans love cats.
2) Koreans don't care about money or careers.
3) Koreans hate soccer.
4) The most popular music in Korea is pyschobilly.
5) And of course, Koreans don't like Korean food much. |
She Is bashing Korea. maybe not on purpose but in the end, thats what she is doing. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Satori wrote: |
| Conformity has been a value that worked for Koreans in the past, I don't think it works so well now in the current reality. Also, with such a turbulent past, involving a lot of invasion, upheaval, poverty, and hardship, my guess is that stability and routine as a form of comfort has been somewhat burned into the national psyche. |
It was a matter of survival. Don't forget that the South Korean government was extremely oppressive until the early 90's. Propaganda and other forms of thought control were de rigueur, such as the fictionalized accounts of the lives of anti-japanese and anti-communist martyrs that were taught in great details to school children. Artists were sent to prison for many years simply because of the government's interpretation of their artwork and writings. Many dissidents were arrested, never to be seen again alive. Police would arrest and focibly cut the hair of male university students who had long hair. They'd walk around with a ruler, getting close to female students under the pretext of checking to see if their miniskirts were of acceptable lenght.
But, things have changed. When I first came to Korea, women would never wear shorts in public (men too, for that matter), but not they do. Couples wouldn't walk hand-in-hand, which they do. Everyone wore black, but now bright colours (even suits) seem to be the norm.
Last edited by Hollywoodaction on Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:57 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Obsession with Sameness |
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| jinju wrote: |
| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
Here's the problem I think a lot of us saw in the OP. It's not that she's bashing Korea at all. It's that she's drawing conclusions about the larger population based on one person.
If I drew conclusions about Koreans based on my significant other, I'd think the following:
1) Koreans love cats.
2) Koreans don't care about money or careers.
3) Koreans hate soccer.
4) The most popular music in Korea is pyschobilly.
5) And of course, Koreans don't like Korean food much. |
She Is bashing Korea. maybe not on purpose but in the end, thats what she is doing. |
Really? How many Koreans have I met that won't eat anything but Korean food? A lot. How many have I met that only like Korean-grown rice? A lot. How many times have I had the ajumma take over - or try to - my cooking in a kogi restaurant because I was doing it "my" way? Many. How many of my students hve looked at me like a two-headed monster when I asked them to actually get out of their seats? Virtually all.
Etc., etc.
Simple-minded conclusions. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:38 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Obsession with Sameness |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| jinju wrote: |
| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
Here's the problem I think a lot of us saw in the OP. It's not that she's bashing Korea at all. It's that she's drawing conclusions about the larger population based on one person.
If I drew conclusions about Koreans based on my significant other, I'd think the following:
1) Koreans love cats.
2) Koreans don't care about money or careers.
3) Koreans hate soccer.
4) The most popular music in Korea is pyschobilly.
5) And of course, Koreans don't like Korean food much. |
She Is bashing Korea. maybe not on purpose but in the end, thats what she is doing. |
Really? How many Koreans have I met that won't eat anything but Korean food? A lot. How many have I met that only like Korean-grown rice? A lot. How many times have I had the ajumma take over - or try to - my cooking in a kogi restaurant because I was doing it "my" way? Many. How many of my students hve looked at me like a two-headed monster when I asked them to actually get out of their seats? Virtually all.
Etc., etc.
Simple-minded conclusions. |
Really? How many Koreans have I met that will eat food thats not Korean? A lot. How many have I met that like nonKorean-grown rice? A lot. How many times have I had the ajumma take over - or try to - my cooking in a kogi restaurant because I was doing it "my" way? Not often. How many of my students have looked at me like a two-headed monster when I asked them to actually get out of their seats? A few. But so what?
Etc., etc.
Simple-minded conclusions are made by simple minded people |
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tomato
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: I get so little foreign language experience, I must be in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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EFL Traitor, I think you missed a couple of verb tenses in Race Traitor's post.
He said, "If I drew (past subjunctive tense) conclusions, I would think (conditional tense)."
If I understand correctly, his point was that one cannot generalize about Korean society from one individual.
One must be careful, however, about accusing the OP of over-generalizing. If I understand the OP correctly, she is not saying that her observations apply to Korea in general, she is only asking if they do.
The first time I attended Methodist choir camp, the string orchestra played three compositions by Vivaldi.
I wondered if the orchestra always played compositions by only one composer, so I asked.
My stand partner said, "No, this is unusual."
Note that I did not assume, I merely asked.
Changing the subject:
Race Traitor's spouse probably knows the American pop scene better than I do.
I never heard of "psychobilly" before, so I had to look it up.
Well I know more about Korean sign language than most Koreans do, so there! |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| Qinella wrote: |
| Didn't say you were Korea bashing... Ah.. I asked if you were generalizing based on one person, which is a pretty incredulous thing to do. So, the answer is yes, then? |
You're being argumentative. She gave a whole lsit of observations that have nothing to do with her husband. |
You're being an idiot. If you're going to try to tell me what's what, respond to my entire post and not a tiny little snippet taken out of context. I addressed the issue of conformity, as well, braniac. Check again. The OP didn't respond to it, of course, because she's apparently not looking for a real examination of the issue, but rather prefers to hear a chorus of whiners whinging about "Koreans' obsession with sameness".
Let's look at the OP again:
| Quote: |
| Here's what I don't get: why are Koreans obsessed with having the exact same thing all of the time, with absolutely no variations allowed? My Honey always gets seafood salad when we go to this take-home buffet. So I offered to make him seafood salad at home. He refused to eat it because it wasn't exactly the same as the kind we get at the buffet. I got to thinking and he has done this before. He refuses to eat hamburgers off the grill because they don't taste like McDonald's hamburgers. We went to Uno's once and he didn't eat the pasta because the sauce didn't taste exactly like the kind I use at home (which is Prego, so he doesn't distinguish between quality variations, he's just upset because it's not EXACTLY the same). To be fair, whenever he makes kimchi-jjigye or anything else, it always tastes exactly the same (which makes me marvel). |
Where's this whole list of observations that have nothing to do with her husband? |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
| EFLtrainer wrote: |
| Qinella wrote: |
| Didn't say you were Korea bashing... Ah.. I asked if you were generalizing based on one person, which is a pretty incredulous thing to do. So, the answer is yes, then? |
You're being argumentative. She gave a whole lsit of observations that have nothing to do with her husband. |
You're being an idiot. If you're going to try to tell me what's what, respond to my entire post and not a tiny little snippet taken out of context. I addressed the issue of conformity, as well, braniac. Check again. The OP didn't respond to it, of course, because she's apparently not looking for a real examination of the issue, but rather prefers to hear a chorus of whiners whinging about "Koreans' obsession with sameness". |
I agree with Q, although not on how he anhilated his parents on this board a while back. But on this topic, Q, Im with you. The OP is seriously bashing Korea becaue she is extrapolating a negative characteristic of her husband's personality onto the whole Korean poulation. oh, she is being quite subtle about it, putting it out in the form of an "innocent" question, but tha doesnt change the fundamental fact that she is bashing Korea. The question has to be asked why her husband is like that. is it her bad cooking, which i suspect it is, that is casing her husband to avoid her cullinary creations?  |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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| You're being an idiot, too. I'm not in agreement with you that she is bashing Korea, nor do I assume she's a bad cook. Some people just like to find one thing they like and stick with it. My brother's like that. His wife is a fantastic cook, but he won't touch 90% of what she makes because it's not what he's used to. |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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| jinju wrote: |
| The OP is seriously bashing Korea becaue she is extrapolating a negative characteristic of her husband's personality onto the whole Korean poulation. |
 Jinju...this comment belongs on a lot of other threads around here, but not this one. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
| You're being an idiot, too. I'm not in agreement with you that she is bashing Korea, nor do I assume she's a bad cook. Some people just like to find one thing they like and stick with it. My brother's like that. His wife is a fantastic cook, but he won't touch 90% of what she makes because it's not what he's used to. |
Atleast you do agree that you pulverized your parents in a nuclear attack of a thread on their good name. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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| jinju wrote: |
| Qinella wrote: |
| You're being an idiot, too. I'm not in agreement with you that she is bashing Korea, nor do I assume she's a bad cook. Some people just like to find one thing they like and stick with it. My brother's like that. His wife is a fantastic cook, but he won't touch 90% of what she makes because it's not what he's used to. |
Atleast you do agree that you pulverized your parents in a nuclear attack of a thread on their good name. |
I agree that thread was in poor taste, and poorly worded as well.
It's sad you constantly refer to it, though. It's as though you were lacking the mental faculty to make reasonable, logical responses without resorting to fallacious ad hominem attacks. Funny, that. |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:50 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Obsession with Sameness |
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| jinju wrote: |
| How many times have I had the ajumma take over - or try to - my cooking in a kogi restaurant because I was doing it "my" way? |
I'm curious as to what your way is.. |
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Satori
Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all
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| Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:11 am Post subject: |
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| So did we get a result yet? She was incorrectly extrapolating her husband's eating habits onto the general Korean population, but not bashing Korea? Something like that? Jinju playing in a completely different ballpark from the rest of us as usual? |
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