Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Lydia]

I tried to make my co-worker smile
by sending a joke,
and she takes offense at this!!!

The type of Korean humour they like is slapstick,
easy, simple tongue in cheek humour.

Why does everything have to be so stoic simple?

[eamo]

Because they grew up in a different culture from you.

[mrsquirrel]

Emailing photos of your bum is not considered funny here.

[Bibbitybop]

I had to explain sarcasm to my Korean friends. Even after they understood it, they didn't find it funny.

[seoulsucker]

Korean humor is hilarious
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NOT!

[Bagpipes11]

I think that comedy naturally evolves over time. At one time in our society, Charlie Chaplin was hilarious. Over time, the humor grows away from slapstick and develops into a type of humor where we can make fun of our own societies. Korea is not near secure enough to criticize themselves....especially with humor.

Most comedy in the Western world is poking fun at the way society is. I have never heard a Korean in my five years here openly criticize something within Korean society. If anything, they defend it. So in turn the only thing that is funny is some guy in a clown suit falling off of a chair while making a funny face.

Even when I watch Korean movies with Korean friends....the parts of the movie that I find funny are different than the parts they like.

[winterwawa]

I learned that humor is a cultural thing the hard way. When I was living in England as an exchange student, I meet a Korean girl and we started dating. One night, I took her to a comedy club in Manchester. I laughed my a** off the entire time. She on the other hand, didn't get any of the jokes and just sat there stone faced for most of the performance. I should have recognized the error in my judgment early on and left the club, and done something she would have enjoyed. But I was having too much fun. That was our last date. She all of a sudden became too busy to see me.

[RACETRAITOR]

I don't like Korean comedy, but I never thought Koreans were too serious. If anything, most of them seem excessively goofy.

[doggyji]

There is this term 몸 개그 which loosley means slapstick comedy. It has a connotation that it's childish but funny anyway. Have you ever watched those talk shows at night such as 야심만만? They aren't doing any slapstick things but they are laughing like there's no tomorrow only from talking, right? This should tell something. Also, there is the internet humour culture. They especially love parodies. We should keep in mind that the language barrier is a big thing. Even though you understand the meaning of the sentences in a foreign language somehow, in the meantime, the fun is lost unless you are very well immersed in it.

[Rock]

I think Asians in general aren't very apt to be humorous, or to understand joking. It makes them lose face, that facade, or what we'd call in English "a mask."

That's the way I see it. They like to wear masks. It's important to show their status and what they are, ie, someone important, a higher status, superior, since status is so important here. They then can't get the advantage over you if they expose themselves.

I believe it stems from Confucianism. It's too much of a hieracrchical society. Eamo knows all about this.

[tigerbluekitty]

[billybrobby]

[waynehead]

I think we should shy away from sweeping generalizations about what koreans find funny, or koreans in general. Most of us don't know them well enough to say.

Just yesterday all the co-teachers in my office were giggling furiously about a series of funny pictures of car crashes (cars in pools, stuff like that). I asked what was so funny. They said all the captions under the pictures said something like "there goes another ajumma" or "the ajumma strikes again!" or something like that. Pretty self-deprecatory and satirical it seems to me...the sort of humor those of us in the west pride ourselves on...

[sojourner1]

This seriousness you see in your KT's, directors, and vice-directors is their discomfort being around foreigners and speaking English or perhaps something is wrong with the business side of things in a school causing stress. Sometimes it can also be that they simply don't like you, because you don't have the visual image they favor. As with anywhere you go, not everyone is going to like you and some places you can have fun and some places are no fun to work in at all. What's crazy is if they don't like you or feel uncomfortable with you, they still keep you on board to jump through the anxiety inducing hoops, because you are here to make them money and no one is waiting in line to replace you. (unless you work for a SMOE public school in Seoul)

I have seen Koreans joke, laugh, have fun, and enjoy humor, but only when things are going well and in a fun setting around people they favor. Sound familiar? Yes, it's like this everywhere in the world, but the situations are always different.

[doggyji]