Thursday, January 6, 2011

Shit Koreans Say ... about understanding culture.

"You must understand Korean culture."
"You don't understand Korean culture."

This is kind of an offshoot of the last Shit Koreans Say. The above comments are often made by Koreans when they do something wrong and you catch them. When they either can't or don't want to explain something. Or when they are wrong and know it. Or as a commenter pointed out in the last post they claim something they did wrong in another country is "A Korean thing."

I can't find a link to the article I saw several years back but I did find a copy of it on a website. It is titled "A Korean father's lesson on raising cane." The father tried to pull the culture card. Interesting quote from his lawyer.

"The father didn't realize he was subject to Canadian laws governing assault nor did he know that his form of discipline was illegal."

Yeah. Right. Someone should have told his client that he MUST UNDERSTAND CANADIAN CULTURE. And then beat him 300 times with a stick and tell him to accept the mystery.

Posted by Flint at 10:10 PM
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6 comments:

  1. mr.pharmacistJanuary 7, 2011 at 8:30 AM

    'understanding' can be swapped for 'respect' when they think you're putting them down. I think the most irritating thing though is how they use modal verbs without any shades of meaning. Makes them seem even more bombastic and myopic.

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  2. FlintJanuary 7, 2011 at 9:05 AM

    That it does.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Drugstore CowgirlJanuary 7, 2011 at 3:31 PM

    The time when that pissed me off the most was when I was having those horrible mold issues and the landlord refused to pay for it.

    "You must understand Korean culture. In Korean culture, you must take responsibility when you have done something wrong in your house and landlord will not pay because they did not make the mold". Hmm.

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  4. FlintJanuary 7, 2011 at 4:35 PM

    Of course you must have created the mold. It couldn't be the humidity that you find in Korea year round.

    My last apartment, the ceiling covering in the "kitchen" ... nook ... was coming off. It hadn't been glued properly or was just too old. after I left they tried to charge my old boss for fixing it ... saying it was my fault.

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  5. UnknownJanuary 8, 2011 at 7:19 AM

    I have a Korean partner- every time I reject a Korean dish as inedible (like rotten fish), he says "you don't have the taste for it." (I don't have a sophisticated enough palate). Every time he rejects foreign food, however, is because it is just plain bad.

    Same "logic."

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  6. FlintJanuary 8, 2011 at 5:03 PM

    Heh ... yes it is. When I first started working in Korea I was eager to hear about the trips Koreans had abroad, especially to countries I had never been to but wanted to see. When asked about the food in that country they couldn't tell you other than that it was bad. How they knew it was bad I don't know because they only ate at Korean restaurants while there. Many of them bring their own rice as well as kimchi with them.

    I just can't imagine going to Thailand and not at least trying some Thai food.

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