I am sure that many of you have had similar experiences in Korea and Japan. I remember when I first arrived in Korea - one of the KATUSAs took me off post and asked me if I wanted to eat some lice. Now I was more than aware that Koreans ate river snails, silk worm larva, and of course - Marmot’s favorite - dog. I naturally refused to eat the lice, but did opt to eat the ramyon. I have to admit that I was more than relieved to discover that my KATUSA friends “Lice” was indeed rice.
I remember a couple of years ago I went to a new Lotteria that had just opened up at Yongdongpo market. I went in and looked at the menu and was surprised at the number of “boogers” that they sold there. There were Cheeseboogers, Kalbi Boogers…..and so on. When I asked the manager what a cheesebooger was - he looked at me with the strangest expression on his face and displayed a cheese burger to me. I am sure he thought I was the dumbest American he had ever seen until I explained to him the differences between ”booger” and burger. He was more angry than thankful - I guess it had something to do with having to replace the signs - a horrible thing considering they were probably less than a couple days old.
A couple of years ago Korea Times had a column dedicated to spelling errors (better spell check this prior to submitting it) found in Korea - obviously they needed to go to Hong Kong as Kate Larson did on “Chasers” shows. Of course the packet of rice from Japan (God - I hope that isn’t true) has got to be the best.
It would be great to see some pictures of strange names/phrases in Korea that the Marmot’s Hole readers have encountered.
For you ex-military guys - do you remember this one? Nothing to do with food per se - I think this one circulated around ASA but I am not sure - the guy that told his girlfriend his name was “Rick Venus” so everytime his girlfriend would go looking for him she would say: “I am looking for ……. (you know the rest).
14 Comments
is that you shelton?
For a moment I thought this was a post on the hardships during the Korean War.
what happened to burger reviews?
“Delivery fusion restaurant”:
http://www.bevers.co.kr/
Apparently they’re not serving “bever” meat though.
“Bever(s) meat” was already served on a platter to Korean netizens.
By the way, here’s a restaurant that popped up in Gwangju. (Beware of the special sauce.)
I once saw a restaurant menu in Korea offering grilled pig bellies (sic) another one selling chicken giblets…
Ha ha, I nearly died.
Things are very funny here, when I met my girlfriend’s uncle for the first time, he said, “Nice to meet you, , I’m Kim XXX-XXX, I’m pleasing to meet you”
He screwed up his tenses, ha ha
This kind of thing makes me want to blog
You’ll certainly create a successful blog with that kind of material. “Clueless incorrect verb tensers”. I look forward to it.
As for the topic at hand, some new teachers to my area ate at a restaurant and thought what they were eating was fish - or that’s what the Korean staff in their halting english told them. Before they left, however, they noticed a sign that had english translations. The translation for their dish said “Loach”. Unaware of such a fish name, they wondered if, in fact, they’d eaten roach. Another teacher who’d been here awhile helped them out considerably by telling them that, yes, indeed, they had eaten roach (”It’s a delicacy here, you know”). I decided to be nice and let them know that loach is not roach at all, but is actually a kind of paste made from kitten intestines. Ok, no, I was nice and actually told them the truth…
not a case of bad translation, but potential. In Shinchon, there is a place called “아침 나무”, translated “Morning Wood”
dlatn /
“Things are very funny here, when I met my girlfriend’s uncle for the first time, he said, “Nice to meet you, , I’m Kim XXX-XXX, I’m pleasing to meet you”
He screwed up his tenses, ha ha”
Does your parents or an uncle, if you have one, could greet your Korean girlfriend with correct Korean grammer or speak in perfect Korean tenses? Congrats, Dlatn, you just listed your beloving girlfriend in the category of “Whore”who is dating stupid foreigner just like yourself.
Iceberg, saw a store in Mapo with a sign in English that said “Spurt Sports,” so maybe there’s a theme going on here.
Maybe the authors here can post misspelled signs etc with pictures. I’m sure it will make everyone’s day.
BTW, I’ve read in Korea Times(or is it Herald) a while back, about a Canadian who runs a company that checks signs for Konglish and/or spelling errors. Considering the market, no doubt he is making a fortune.
bluesky,
Don’t take it out on the girlfriend…sometimes good people make mistakes too.
Once you have had enough from this thread, check out:
http://www.engrish.com/