Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gorgias]

Interested in Korean ghost stories etc, here's a few to start, would love to hear more.

-If you have a common eye disease (pink eye?), pull out three eyelashes, stack three pebbles on top or them, who ever steps and knocks over the pebbles, will get the eye disease and it will leave you.

-If you have a stomach pain, wrap thread tightly around your thumb, and with a pin, *beep* the flesh just above the nail, squeeze out some blood.

-Corn is good for the teeth because it looks like teeth.

-4, writting in red, chopsticks straight up in rice bowl...

-Korean ghosts tend to be women.

-The summer, (and not October) is the horror season.

-Fan death, acid rain causes baldness.

[Freezer Burn]

You can't eat Seaweed Soup before an exam, or any kind of 'slippery' food i.e chocalate or banana, because you will fail you're test "you won't be able to catch the test" direct quote.


What is slippery food?

[jaganath69]

Eating peppero will make you grow up tall and skinny. Did anyone catch the redmask thing when it was going around? Apparently it does the rounds of elementary schools every few years. My former hagwon kids were scared sh#tless.

[rapier]

I always liked the legend of gummiho (she-wolf).
She stays alive by stealing mens hearts..and you can tell her by the 7 tails hidden under her dress.

[eamo]

Pulling the 'S' off of a Hyundai Sonata can give one luck in tests.

That's why so many Sonata's are now onata's.

[denverdeath]

Throw a tooth that has fallen out up on the roof of your house for the magpie to get...or something like that. Supposed to be for good luck or something. Kind of like the Korean Tooth Fairy.

Never whistle at night or the snakes will come.

Don't clip your nails(toe/finger) at night and leave them laying around.

A girl shouldn't/should look in a mirror at midnight for some reason that I've forgotten.

After someone dies, you have to throw salt around before entering the home after the funeral, or something like that.

While seaweed soup is bad for the entrance exam, sticky candy(yuht - careful with your pronunciation!) will allow the superior scores to stick to you.

While drinking, never pour your own drink because the single person across from you will be cursed in some way or another.

Getting a sale early in the morning will mean a good day for a business. Same back home?

You have to go to the Juhm-jang-i(fortune teller) to set the date for important things like moving and marriage.

Something about a tiger falling from the great fall sky and landing on a bear. They go into a cave and eat lots of garlic and later emerge as the first Koreans...I'm just babbling now...

But here are some others:


From http://www.topics-mag.com/internatl/superstitions/korea.htm :


Superstitions from Korea

Beliefs are handed down over the years.


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Joy describes superstitions from Korea, about washing your hair on the day you take a test, giving shoes as a present, and seeing a bird called a magpie.

In my country, most people believe in superstitions, and superstitions have been handed down from a long time ago. Here are some examples of common ones.

One superstition about tests says: On the day when you have a big test, don't wash your hair. People believe when they wash their hair, their memories are cleaned by the water. Consequently, people think they won't be able to remember what they studied. (gross!)

A superstition about couples says: Don't present a boyfriend or a girlfriend with a pair of shoes. If you do, your boyfriend or girlfriend will leave you. So some people believe they will break up with their girl friend if they give them a pair of shoes. (most students I've talked to never heard of this one)

There is also a superstition about the Korean magpie (bird). People say: If you see a magpie in the morning, you'll get good news. In Korean folk songs, there are some stories about this bird. There is a song about this.

Many people believe these kinds of superstitions. Actually, superstitions have many meanings. I don't believe in them, but I can't ignore them.

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Hye Young describes some things that some people don't do at night in her country because of superstitions from long ago.

In Korea, there are a few things we are not supposed to do at night. So when I was young, my mom asked me not to cut my nails at night. She said, "If you cut your nails, some animals like mice will eat your nails, and then they'll become you or they'll take your spirit." Basically, this belief is from the past when we didn't have electricity. If we cut out nails then night then, the room would be dirty because we couldn't see to clean it. So, we still don't do that even today.

Similarly, we don't sing at night. Old people say, "If you sing a song at night, snakes will appear in front of you." I think the reason they say that is to stop you from annoying your neighbors. In the past, we didn't have soundproff walls or windows. It was a kind of wisdo

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Hollie tells about a superstition about the the difference in ages between a bride and bridegroom.

In Korea, when you choose your spouse, you have to be careful. If you marry someone five years difference in age, "won jin sal" will bother you. You'll fight with yur spouse every day, but you won't get divorced. And, if you marry someone six years older or younger than you are, "sang chun sal" will make you strange. You and your spouse will live happily, but you will always be beggars. As a result, many Koreans consider four years difference or seven years difference in age between the bride and the bridegroom is the best age. (Wonder what they think of my and my wife's eleven year difference? Oh, wait, I already know that answer - I'm a thieving perv.)

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Jae-Seok Park describes some things that people don't do today because of superstitions from long ago.

I will tell you about two superstitions about good and bad luck that involve two kinds of birds in Korea. It's up to you to believe them or not.

First, if you see crows or ravens when you are leaving your house in order to go to school or to your company early in the morning, it means that you will be in trouble and have bad luck all day--just for a day.

Second, if you see magpies or listen to their calls when you go somewhere, especially early in the morning, you will have good luck for a day. Magpies mean really good luck in Korea.

[gdimension]

[denverdeath]

Or the focal point of your pain was shifted from your belly to your finger?

[peppermint]

Women aren't supposed to smile on their wedding day- if they do, it means the first child will be a girl.

If a man gives his girlfriend shoes, she will leave him ( and take the shoes, I guess)