Our man, Choe Sang-Hun, has done it again, writing a nice article about replacement drivers and why they will not soon be replaced in Seoul. I really enjoyed the quote:
You can struggle with a drunken man for half an hour, pleading and shaking him, but he wouldn’t stir, and you are stuck with him in a forest of apartment blocks well past midnight, wasting time that you could use to get more orders, but when his wife comes out and says two words, ‘Wake up!’ — and I am not making this up — he comes right around.
Even though some people think this is a lowly vocation, helping to save lives is no small thing to be ashamed of.
19 Comments
‘Replacement driver’? Actually,the correct term to describe these guys is ‘chauffeurs’(which sounds like a fancy French word, but basically means ‘driver’). Businesses that offer this kind of service are said to offer a ‘chauffeur service’.
nah, pretty sure they are just replacement drivers, as in 대리운전. I’ve used these guys enough to know that their is nothing fancy nor french about them.
cmm,
Naw, you’re wrong. ‘Replacement driver’ is the anglicized Korean expression. In English, they are ‘chauffeurs’.
http://www.google.com/search?h.....gle+Search
I’ve used one when I was in Seoul last year. My buddies and I were drunk enough to fail the breath test so we got one for sam cha at 1am. There were like a check point at every other intersection in Kang Nam! Not use to that since SoCal only has check points during three day weekends, holidays, etc.
Very convenient!
That was an interesting quote. I guess Mr. Choe was tailoring the article for an English-speaking readership, because in Korean, it’d be just one word the wife would say to the husband: 이러나!!!
아 바보인데 『이러나』라는 것 아니라 『일어나』라고 하잖아요….
Which technically is two words, I suppose one could argue—or rather one word and one morpheme that must have once been a word on its own.
Sewing, you forgot to add “여보!” to that phrase for it to have the power to raise the dead drunk.
Replacement drivers are a great idea, IMHO.
I was thinking about that, actually…
And yes, it’s an excellent idea.
I still prefer “자기야” to 『일어나』 than “여보!”
and TGIF everyone!
The guy waking up to the voice of his wife must be a father; he’s been conditioned that way during months of having to get up 3 to 5 times at night to feed a crying infant. The man knows that when she tells him to wake up, she often follows up with her elbow if he doesn’t budge.
nah, not wrong. translated, not anglicized.
대리운전이나 대리기사
http://dic.naver.com/
a chauffeur has class and dresses well. a 대리기사 has debt and my last one was rude and needed a shower.
I prefer the 대리기사 though. While it’s not their primary motivation, they save lives and provide an invaluable service.
I suspect that when husbands come home from a night out drunk and asleep in their cars, their wives call them something other than 여보 or 자기야.
Indeed a fascinating and well-written article, and another example (to me) of the contrast between Korean and American cultures.
I’m not aware of any similar business here in the US. Aside from likely legalities relating to local/state regulation of driving for hire, I suspect it’s not a viable US business model. I’m going to guess the insurance premiums involved in driving someone else’s car for hire would be astronomical.
IMO “replacement driver” is a factually accurate (though somewhat awkward) term. Without looking at a dictionary definition, I think the word “chauffeur” in colloquial American English usage implies a driver hired on a more or less permanent basis by a wealthy person or family, to drive the family’s own vehicle(s).
I.e., “Paris Hilton’s family needs to hire a chauffeur to drive her around”.
If somebody in the US is too drunk to drive their own car, it’s generally assumed they’re supposed to get a sober friend to drive them (”designated driver”); if not they’re supposed to call a taxi (the driver of which is a “taxi driver”, never a chauffeur).
“Chauffeur” implies a certain aura of snobbery at odds with American egalitarianism. Limousine rental for special occasions or for business purposes is a well-established business model here in the US, but the drivers of these limos will want to be referred to as “limo drivers” — never as “chauffeurs”.
I think it’s too bad these “replacement drivers” are looked down upon in Korean society. Looks like they are filling a needed niche (the paragraph about Koreans drinking mandatory “group boilermakers” makes my stomach turn over). They appear to be hard-working people who have to be reliable, or they wouldn’t last long.
Nah, a chauffeur, in the broad sense of the word, is someone who drives a car for a living. ‘Replacement driver’ is the anglicized Korean term. It’s not a translation. A translation would have used the correct English term..and in English these guys are chauffeurs. Follow the link I provided in my previous post. Plenty of newspaper articles that describe the drivers who provide similar services in other countries as ‘chauffeurs’.
Paul wrote:
Boy, are you right about that. This vignette is a good example of how Korea is different from America in dealing with problems. America would regulate such an activity out of existence and I do not think it would be an improvement at all. Try getting a cab, in most parts of the U.S., to see what I mean; it is a long wait if they come at all.
Who the fuck cares what this profession is called? I for one am very impressed with their service, having seen them in action a couple of times when my bosses or officemates brings me out for a drinking binge and get themselves tomato-red from all that sojus or poktangjus.
Wish I could start a similar business in the Philippines, but alas, it may not be as easy to market that kind of service, what with all the muggings and thievery happening left and right especially at night.
LBA
Mr. Elgin, just a quibble from an English teacher…
You’ve mixed two expressions—”nothing to be ashamed of” and “no small thing”—here, with the result saying something quite different from what you intended.
What you intended to say, I’m sure, is that saving lives is no small thing (i.e., not a minor matter; significant), and nothing to be ashamed of. But the blending of the two expressions yields the meaning “and that’s a significant thing to be ashamed of.”
I also enjoyed the article; thanks for drawing it to our attention!
“…and that is no small thing to be ashamed of.”
He’s just trying to give us his best Tony Soprano impersonation.
Thanks UT, I can always use a grammar lesson. :o)