Comments on idiots' collective: Woman Disdained

Sonagi,

I don't believe I've ever heard of ...

2008-07-10T16:47:00.000+09:00

Sonagi,

I don't believe I've ever heard of that reporter, but agree that both men and women, especially in Korea, could learn a lot by living in the other gender's world for a day or two.

As to your question - I don't use Korean very often in my job, and now I'm struggling to make a pie chart in my mind for how often people use banmal, polite, and honorific speech. Older and better-educated people, in my experience, tend to be more formal across the board so I probably get the honorifics from them, actually, whereas younger Koreans (and yes, the blue-collared) are more likely to stick with basic polite forms.

I'll have pay more attention to this and see if I can better quantify it.

Do you recall that US woman TV reporter who was dr...

2008-07-10T10:55:00.000+09:00

Do you recall that US woman TV reporter who was dressed as a man and taught male body language and then walked around a city for a day to experience first-hand life as a man? I want to do that in Korea. I want to walk around for one day in a suit and tie and see how Koreans, especially men, treat me.

Women can cash in on their youth and looks, and foreign women can do this with much less risk of sexual harassment. Whenever I went to an office or had to do some business, I usually dressed up in a skirt and heels and splashed on my most flattering shade of lipstick. For a foreign woman, look pretty + speak Korean = kind and courteous treatment from men.

BTW, I have a question. When middle-aged white collar men speak to you in banks, offices, and other formal settings, do they use basic polite speech or do they use honorifics, too? As a woman in her thirties, I noticed that younger Koreans regardless of sex used honorifics while same-age or older Koreans differed by sex. Women usually used honorifics while men did not. In fact, one office worker at the university, who was approximately the same age, spoke to me and most other women in banmal. University professors who did not know me used honorifics. Blue-collar men almost always used banmal I speculate that Korean profs know that their position is so much higher than mine and thus speaking very polite Korean to me only accentuated their refined status. Blue-collar men, on the other hand, sometimes seemed to resent foreigners in general, and would sooner twist a knife around their gut than speak politely to a foreign female.

Sonagi

Actually, Michael, this sort of language doesn't w...

2008-07-04T09:23:00.000+09:00

Actually, Michael, this sort of language doesn't work well at all in Korea because, if actually put into action, it would require women to push for more than they're currently given and demand more out of them. As it is, nothing much is expected and, thus, they don't have to try very hard to meet expectations. I've long thought that Korean women, on the whole, don't really want equality.

But then, I'm married and off the market, so what do I know about what works and what doesn't?

Does this kind of language work on the women in Ko...

2008-07-04T06:11:00.000+09:00

Does this kind of language work on the women in Korea? I'll be moving to Seoul in January and need to know what works. The "sensitive white male" thingie worked well in Japan, so maybe I will give it a go in Korea , too.

Thanks!
Michael

you know, I heard awhile back about how unfairly K...

2008-07-03T11:26:00.000+09:00