중앙데일리

Time goes on, but toilets stay the same

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: Last week, I went to one of the local motor vehicle offices in Gangnam. Although the building was quite old, it looked as if the bathroom has been recently renovated. The women’s bathroom was very clean and was painted in pink and decorated with artificial flowers. Each closet door had a small picture frame hanging on it. What shocked me were the toilets ― they were squatters. …

Oct 03,2004
Lighting up for safer roads

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs. Glenn Lawrie of Taean, South Chungcheong province, wrote: Q: In the interest of public safety, why do Korean police refuse to address the issue of vehicular lighting? Too many drivers refuse to turn on their lights or refuse to replace burned-out bulbs. Another not insignificant group of drivers opts to replace their amber turn-signal lights with fashionable blues or greens. Al…

Sept 19,2004
Naturally dyed red nails

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: I’ve seen a number of Korean women, from young girls to matronly ladies, wearing bright orange nail polish. At first I thought nothing of it, but I began to wonder about it, because the color and the way they wear the polish are a bit unusual. A friend tried to explain to me that it’s an old custom in Korea, but I didn’t quite understand. Can you explain it to me? A: An old…

Sept 12,2004
A wall of jealousy?

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: Korean women who are with their boyfriends often seem to avoid walking along the walls of Deoksu Palace, which is in downtown Seoul. Why is that? Is there any special cultural reason why Korean women shouldn’t walk there with their boyfriends? A: There is a lingering belief in Korea that couples who walk alongside the stone wall of Deoksu Palace will eventually break up. It…

Aug 01,2004
Small bows with a special meaning

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: I was going through the text messages in my Korean mobile phone and found one containing an odd-looking icon that resembled a bow tie. It was part of a mass message mourning the death of the young Korean hostage in Iraq. I thought nothing of the spam message, until I saw a small group of Koreans in the street wearing tiny bows on their business suits; they were getting on a funera…

July 11,2004
Where Buddha meets shaman

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: I was told that the upright version of the swastika symbol on the streets of Korea appeared only on Buddhist temples. But as I learned to read signs in hangul, I found that not all the buildings bearing the Buddhist symbol were actually temples. One that I recently spotted in northern Seoul read “Janggun,” which means “a general” in Korean. What does that mean? A: As Buddhi…

July 04,2004
Is there a missing gate?

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: I heard that in the ancient capital of Korea, there were gates at all of the entrances to the city. I know about Namdaemun in the south, Seodaemun in the west and Dongdaemun in the east. But I’m curious as to what ever happened to Bukdaemun, the north gate? A: The ancient gates of modern Seoul were actually used in the old days. They surrounded Gyeongbok Palace, the seat of g…

June 27,2004
Taxi rides in Korea not so economical

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: I’ve lived in Seoul for a little more than a year. As soon as I learned a few expressions in Korean, I began riding Korean taxis. Here’s what puzzles me. Sometimes when I’m riding in a cab, the driver will pick up someone else along the way if we are going in the same direction. When I share a ride with a friend we each pay half. I tried to do the same thing with the random man…

June 20,2004
Buy the bag and be punctual

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: My neighborhood in northern Seoul has really been cleaned up in the past few years. One thing I wonder, though, is how come there aren’t any trash cans in Korea? In my neighborhood, people throw garbage bags in the street or in parking lots all the time. The sight and the smell are quite awful. A: There used to be trash cans everywhere in Korea, but people would often use t…

June 13,2004
A custom to pore over

Here’s this week’s tip on Korean language and customs: Q: Since I arrived in Korea last year, I’ve been invited to both formal and informal social gatherings where wine is present. I’ve noticed that there is something unusual about the way Koreans drink wine: They hold the wine glass almost obsessively when someone is pouring the wine. At first, I thought this was to prevent the wine from spilling, but it seems as if the drinker “must” ho…

June 06,2004

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