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Do koreans in general have a sense of humour in work!

 
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gregmgnz



Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Location: New Zealand

PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:22 am    Post subject: Do koreans in general have a sense of humour in work! Reply with quote

or not? as if in calling me a onearmbandit would they get it if I said 'give me some money and see if you win anything' ?
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prosodic



Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Location: ����

PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They'll laugh IF they understand it. Otherwise, you might end up spending a lot of time explaining. By the time you've spend 5 minutes explaining the English, the joke's not funny anymore.
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lush72



Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: I am Penalty Kick!

PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes- they do have a sense of humor at work- but that sense is korean language centered (it is, after all, Korea!)!

My coworkers do little else (that I am aware of) but joke, flirt, and update their cyworld pages all day- when you work at a real Korean company (as opposed to a hogwon) it really blows the whole "korean work ethic" nonsense right out of the water!
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shifty



Joined: 21 Jun 2004

PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

People who raise a laugh on quiz type questions are often essentially humorless. They don't get off on funny because it's funny.

It has always struck me that Koreans have great humor. It's a redeeming characteristic amongst many untoward.
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Gollum



Joined: 04 Sep 2003
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

lush72 wrote:
Yes- they do have a sense of humor at work- but that sense is korean language centered (it is, after all, Korea!)!

My coworkers do little else (that I am aware of) but joke, flirt, and update their cyworld pages all day- when you work at a real Korean company (as opposed to a hogwon) it really blows the whole "korean work ethic" nonsense right out of the water!


Oh, gosh, ain't that the truth!

I always wondered why this country didn't amount to much on the world scale of things given how much time they spend "working" or "studying".

Newbees, remember this -- it's because their social time is something mixed in with work time. For example, my friend Korean worked for a web company. He would work all day and into the evening. But often times, he would be playing on the web. Also, they had a big net on top of the building, and would play baseball with each other during these "work hours".

Often, Koreans need to "seem busy" with something until the boss leaves for the day. Many of them cannot leave until the boss leaves.
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ajuma



Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

PostPosted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

And you have to remember that most western humor is based on puns or cultural things. Unless a student has lived in a western country for QUITE a long time, a lot of humor is hard to understand. The more you understand Korean culture, the more jokes you can make ABOUT Korean culture, and the students will understand.

Example: Someone recently posted that Korean guys only talk about 3 things: Their experiences in the army. Soccer. Playing soccer in the army. I used this with some of my students and got a HUGE positive response!

What made me realize that I was really starting to understand Korean culture was when I was watching a Korean sit-com. The girlfriend was meeting the boyfriend's parents for the first time. As a gift, she brought one of those money trays from the bank! And THEN she licked the top of the yogurt container! If I hadn't been in Korean for a while, I wouldn't have "gotten it."
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Son Deureo!



Joined: 30 Apr 2003

PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 4:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ajuma wrote:

What made me realize that I was really starting to understand Korean culture was when I was watching a Korean sit-com. The girlfriend was meeting the boyfriend's parents for the first time. As a gift, she brought one of those money trays from the bank! And THEN she licked the top of the yogurt container! If I hadn't been in Korean for a while, I wouldn't have "gotten it."


I guess I haven't been here long enough. Care to explain?
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ajuma



Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 6:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When you visit your boyfriend's mother (usually it's a prelude to marrige!) you bring something more substantial than a bank tray!

And licking the top of the yogurt container is REALLY rude...it's almost considered "dirty". The girl had NO manners!
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tommynomad



Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Location: on the move

PostPosted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:18 am    Post subject: culture? Reply with quote

As hysterical as the situation of the rude young woman might be....

How is the gag exclusively Korean?

I mean, if I were introducing my fiancee/gf/f-bunny to my folks, and all she brought was a banktray (cheap AND tacky--ouch), my mom wouldn't be endeared to her, either.

Licking the lid? Maybe not ok in a lot of houses, in a lot of cultures.
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