Korean Job Discussion Forums

hypnotist · Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Location: I wish I were a sock

.. seems very unnatural to me.

"He's so tall"
"No, he's not so tall"

Ugh. To my ears, it sounds much better with 'that':

"No, he's not that tall"

However, lots of Koreans seem to use 'so' in this circumstance. I'd usually reserve it for the construction "not so.. as to" (even if the "as to" is implicit), whereas Koreans use it with gay abandon.

Is this an Americanism I'm not aware of, or just plain Konglish?

Flossie · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:03 pm Post subject:

I agree with you. 'not that tall' sounds better to me but after hearing the same mistake over and over again it starts to get confusing huh?

I get frustrated with the 'he's a so tall man' instead of very. That seems to happen so often.

VanIslander · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:20 pm Post subject:

"not so tall" seems more appropriate to me, given the context.

"not that tall" is, in its most common use, is a response to a cited specific height, for example,

"My brother is as tall as you."
"He's not that tall."

Though, of course, uses overlap and mix together. Both are alright.

VI,
a Canadian

hypnotist · Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Location: I wish I were a sock

Perhaps it is a side-of-the-pond thing, then. But to me, 'that' is better used in response to a cited height (or whatever), whether specific or not.

'So' is best used to express surprise at the extent of an adjective. So "he's so short!" makes sense whereas "he's not so tall!" doesn't, to me. I'd be interested to hear if this is covered in any of the canonical grammar texts... common it may well be, but it still makes me cringe!

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

hypnotist is on to something. There is a way Koreans commonly use 'so' that is just wrong. Sorry, but I can't come up with an example of it right now. I know it has something to do with not using 'too' or 'very', but that is only part of it.

joe_doufu · Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere

I say "not so tall" to mean "not too tall" or "not extremely tall" ... I don't use it to mean that the person is short.

hypnotist · Joined: 04 Dec 2004 Location: I wish I were a sock

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

"It's not so hot today."

You're right, it's bad English. I use it ironically, though. Makes me sound all slangy and so on.

VanIslander · Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:15 pm Post subject:

One of Seinfield's stock lines was "not so much"

In the context he uses it it means "not much" or even implies "almost not at all".

There are several uses of "so" in negative expressions, but as the last couple of posters have indicated, foreign language learners often overuse it, in contexts in which it's a bit awkward.

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

Funny, I was thinking about "not so hot" just this morning. Doesnt work so well (that well?) in reference to the weather since it also has a different slangy idiomatic meaning.

I think I used "so" & "that" in these contexts quite interchangeably even before my years of konglish onslaught. But it leads me to wonder how much my grammar has become mangled by years of listening to subtle misusages.

Case in point: a Korean asked me today if its okay to say "Today is busy." Is it?