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madcow305
United States152 Posts
In China, the most common way to refer to an African/black person is the phrase "hei gui." The phrase translates to "black ghost" or "black monster." Not sure if Korea and Japan have any equivalent phrases. Also, one of the ways used to refer to people from Japan is "ri ben gui zi," which translates to "Japanese ghost" or "Japanese monster." It is not TOO uncommon to hear this reference if Japan is a subject of discussion, particularly if the people discussing Japan are of the older generation. | ||
Falling
Canada11218 Posts
On March 19 2012 09:38 Greg_J wrote: Also the students used to call me dirty and make a big fuss if I had even the smallest hole in my socks. I’m used to just wearing socks till they die and then buying new ones. But since you walk around in indoor shoes/flip flop things your socks area always on display. Seems like a waste of perfectly good sock to me to buy new ones just because of a small hole….. perhaps I am cheap after all. Oh dear. I don't think I'd fit in very well clothing wise. The thrifty Mennonite in me is so hard to suppress. Very interesting blog. | ||
OneOther
United States10774 Posts
On March 19 2012 15:01 JudicatorHammurabi wrote: Dude, are you trying to make me think shitty of Korea or something? I hate to admit it, but you did a good job :/. Btw, this is a guy who up to this point loved Korea. Biggest disappointment though was that everyone in SNSD got plastic surgery. Seriously, they look pretty much indiscernible from how they used to. Surgery makes some real miracles, I'll say that. And people like bashing we Americans for being messed up? IMHO, the Koreans really, really got us beat in that regard. These things described in the OP are just astonishing, ridiculous beyond measure, if not absurd to the point of hilarity. Damn, now I feel like I've been taking things for granted living here in the US. And this is the icing on the cake. They hate the country that is the reason they aren't under Communist rule and the reason why they aren't in the 3rd world. Please tell me you are joking me. Oh, and let's not forget about the part about being hardcore xenophobes... IDK rotinegg, but you really spilled the beans on a lot of things about Korea I've heard all about but was hoping wasn't true as the norm. Wow. I used to have a huge bias in favor of Koreans. Even dated a couple. I just don't know anymore. Like someone else said, I'm glad I don't live in Korea. Maybe I should be more thankful I live in the USA. The more I learn about other countries, the more I realize this is one fucking great country.  Woah, settle down man. Every country has a level of superficiality in its entertainment culture and appearances, and Korea is no different. Yea, it might be little bit more extreme than others but basing your entire perception of the country and its culture on this blog post (albeit an accurate description of the sentiment) is not a good idea. Think about how many more women in America get breast enlargements. A lot more than Korea, I can gurantee you. It's just different, man. No reason to compare how "messed-up" a country is or be disappointed about anything. | ||
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madcow305
United States152 Posts
On March 19 2012 15:47 OneOther wrote: Woah, settle down man. Every country has a level of superficiality in its entertainment culture and appearances, and Korea is no different. Yea, it might be little bit more extreme than others but basing your entire perception of the country and its culture on this blog post (albeit an accurate description of the sentiment) is not a good idea. Think about how many more women in America get breast enlargements. A lot more than Korea, I can gurantee you. It's just different, man. No reason to compare how "messed-up" a country is or be disappointed about anything. That's because Koreans don't value large breasts. Plastic surgery is much more common over there than here. | ||
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duk3
United States807 Posts
rotinegg, what are the ski/snowboard fashions like in Korea? Are baggy clothes worn then? In the US, most ski outfits are pretty loose besides ones for racing. | ||
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Itsmedudeman
United States19229 Posts
On March 19 2012 15:56 duk3 wrote: I wonder how iNcontrol would be received in Korea. rotinegg, what are the ski/snowboard fashions like in Korea? Are baggy clothes worn then? In the US, most ski outfits are pretty loose besides ones for racing. Burger man | ||
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phosphorylation
United States2935 Posts
On March 19 2012 15:53 madcow305 wrote: That's because Koreans don't value large breasts. Plastic surgery is much more common over there than here. That's just not true. Although slim figures are sought for, Korean people also love big bosoms. This is one of the reasons why I think OP is slightly off the mark (at least in depicting Korea as a whole); especially as men get older, curves are preferred over slim, girly figures. Look to the G-na phenomena if you are skeptical. | ||
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iMYoonA
Australia462 Posts
On March 19 2012 15:56 duk3 wrote: I wonder how iNcontrol would be received in Korea. rotinegg, what are the ski/snowboard fashions like in Korea? Are baggy clothes worn then? In the US, most ski outfits are pretty loose besides ones for racing. i'm not the op but i know anyway: its the same as everywhere, its quite loose, big, and waterproof. | ||
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phame21
Australia43 Posts
But if you wanna be one of them you gotta play by their rules it seems like. | ||
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Deleted User 183001
2939 Posts
On March 19 2012 15:47 OneOther wrote: Woah, settle down man. Every country has a level of superficiality in its entertainment culture and appearances, and Korea is no different. Yea, it might be little bit more extreme than others but basing your entire perception of the country and its culture on this blog post (albeit an accurate description of the sentiment) is not a good idea. Think about how many more women in America get breast enlargements. A lot more than Korea, I can gurantee you. It's just different, man. No reason to compare how "messed-up" a country is or be disappointed about anything. I fear we have a misunderstanding. No no no, I'm not basing it off a blog post. I've been following SC since about late 2006, and by extension Korean society/culture due to the fact I've had huge interest in it since. During high school, I've known a couple Koreans in and outside of hs, who while not in the least following these trends in Korea, were quite knowledgeable on them. Right now, I attend a university that is largely Asian. I've come across quite a few Koreans and Korea-philes who have told me all about this stuff, and some were strict on the point that this was the norm there. I was in fierce denial of that. In my mind, it had to be just celebrities and the typical dumbasses, who comprise a minority who go to such extremes in a country, like for example the US. I would not have it any other way! However, in the back of my head, I knew it was true, I just didn't want to admit it to myself. Well, now hearing it from a Korean living in Korea that these things are the norm and anyone who is half-conscientious socially does this stuff at least to some extremity, it's just the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I'm sorry man. Maybe I'm more disappointed than I should be, but I'm a bit in disbelief in any case. On March 19 2012 16:03 phosphorylation wrote: That's just not true. Although slim figures are sought for, Korean people also love big bosoms. This is one of the reasons why I think OP is slightly off the mark (at least in depicting Korea as a whole); especially as men get older, curves are preferred over slim, girly figures. Look to the G-na phenomena if you are skeptical. This is interesting. Please don't take this the wrong way, but is it just me, or do Korean and many East Asian women overall seem to be less curvy and have smaller breasts than other women? :s Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is something I've kinda observed. | ||
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phame21
Australia43 Posts
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Enki
United States2548 Posts
The more I think about it, the more I think that South Korea is an extremely stressful place to live. With so much emphasis on what school you go to and how you look determining more than anything else with how you are percieved in that society. I was even reading awhile ago about how disabled people in S.K are like outcasts and I found it pretty sad. Granted, all this stuff happens in other cultures but it seems to be taken to an extreme in S.K. | ||
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phosphorylation
United States2935 Posts
On March 19 2012 16:38 JudicatorHammurabi wrote: I fear we have a misunderstanding. No no no, I'm not basing it off a blog post. I've been following SC since about late 2006, and by extension Korean society/culture due to the fact I've had huge interest in it since. During high school, I've known a couple Koreans in and outside of hs, who while not in the least following these trends in Korea, were quite knowledgeable on them. Right now, I attend a university that is largely Asian. I've come across quite a few Koreans and Korea-philes who have told me all about this stuff, and some were strict on the point that this was the norm there. I was in fierce denial of that. In my mind, it had to be just celebrities and the typical dumbasses, who comprise a minority in a country that go to such extremes, like for example the US. I would not have it any other way! Well, now hearing it from a Korean living in Korea that these things are the norm and anyone who is half-conscientious socially does this stuff at least to some extremity, it's just the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I'm sorry man. Maybe I'm more disappointed than I should be, but I'm a bit in disbelief in any case. This is interesting. Please don't take this the wrong way, but is it just me, or do Korean and many East Asian women overall seem to be less curvy and have smaller breasts than other women? :s Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is something I've kinda observed. The body proportions are definitely different. I think the average cup size for Korean women is like less than A compared to B-C for western women. | ||
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phosphorylation
United States2935 Posts
On March 19 2012 16:48 Enki wrote: Lol, that old Stork picture really sticks out. He was a completely different person looks-wise back in 2005-2006. I don't remember when he had all that stuff done. I guess it is a little extreme over there in some cases with all the plastic surgury, I think it is the plastic surgery capital of the world or something like that isn't it? The more I think about it, the more I think that South Korea is an extremely stressful place to live. With so much emphasis on what school you go to and how you look determining more than anything else with how you are percieved in that society. I was even reading awhile ago about how disabled people in S.K are like outcasts and I found it pretty sad. Granted, all this stuff happens in other cultures but it seems to be taken to an extreme in S.K. I would argue that Korea is probably the most stressful country to live in -- especially if you are not loaded with cash. Kinda explains the suicide rate... | ||
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pristina
1 Post
2,500 years of confucianism meeting rapid westernization. Basically, a lot of confucianism focuses on how to become the "proper" person. That is, confucianism prescribed the "right" way to do things, the "right" way to live your life. Whilst it originally covered "more noble" things like character and virtue, it gradually permeated into the minutiae of everyday life to include "trivial" things like appearance. Now suppose you visited Korea in say 1870, before modernization. You would've seen practically all men dressed in the same cookie-cutter white traditional outfit, all wearing the same black hat (갓), all having their hair nicely tied on top of their head. (In fact, in many ways such a picture mirrors that of the contemporaneous Victorian gentlemen all wearing their dark suits with their top-hats). There were similar "standards" of dress for women as well. As for things like facial appearance, well there was no plastic surgery back then but still there were ideals of what a "good" face ought to look like. Then over the next 130 years, Korea literally is thrown into chaos, after millenia of (relative) peace, cultural stability and isolation. There is a sudden influx of Western ideas, knowledge and technology which basically turns the world upside down. Korea then gets colonized by Japan (or r***ed as the elderly would put it). The country is then split in half and a war tears apart the whole peninsula, reducing everything to rubble and plunging virtually the entire population into complete, utter poverty. Then somehow, from that poverty happens the Miracle of the Han and (South) Korea ends up in the place it is today. Now whilst all that's happening, the "old" confucian ideals are preserved. People still expect there to be the "right" way of doing things - i.e. the "right" way of dressing and presenting oneself, etc. Yet when the world seems to be in a constant state of flux and confusion, you can imagine how insecure one may feel. So they look to eachother for guidance, and Koreans synthesise for themselves their own sense of aesthetics - a patchwork of traditional ideals mixed with modern technology and tidbits of "imported" concepts. Then with the booming of the Korean economy through the 1970s-(agruably up till today, even with all the "setbacks"), Koreans as a whole I guess really, really wanted to make a point of distancing themselves from the "poor" and tumultous past. The Korean obssession with height is attributable to this (mums love to brag on about their son's height - this originally would've meant that the family had enough wealth to properly nourish their child. MANY Korean elderly are actually well-below their "genetic" height due to being malnourished as children). Similarly with designer labels and plastic surgery - conspicuous spending telling everyone "I'm not so poor anymore! yay!" Well, that's probably how it all started anyway, but then with everyone getting rich to some extent, a lot of these things lost their original meaning. So yeah. Koreans for centuries have been familiar with the idea of the "correct way to look and dress" (in the same vein as knowing "the correct way to greet your elders", etc). Then along came westernization and modernization, a whole lot of stuff happened (as above), and a brand new "correct way to look" has been conjured up (which indeed is constantly changing, but you can guarantee that in Korea there will always be a "correct way to look") I hope this provides some insight  | ||
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Deleted User 183001
2939 Posts
On March 19 2012 16:49 phosphorylation wrote: The body proportions are definitely different. I think the average cup size for Korean women is like less than A compared to B-C for western women. Oh, okay. I was starting to think I was hallucinating lol. I mean, you can only really carefully examine the bosom of a girl when she's nude (not trying to sound lewd here, just speaking in a scientific manner), but I just noticed "Hmm, these seem smaller than non-asian girls' ", and on rare occasion I thought my senses of sight and touch were fooling me haha. Well, glad to know I'm not the only one who's noticed this sort of thing. | ||
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SecretDoves
United States8 Posts
It hasn't been updated for a while, but it is a poignant reminder. I am currently in Japan, and I thought things were "bad" here in terms of individuality, but I had no idea... | ||
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ulan-bat
China403 Posts
On March 19 2012 16:38 JudicatorHammurabi wrote: I was in fierce denial of that. In my mind, it had to be just celebrities and the typical dumbasses, who comprise a minority who go to such extremes in a country, like for example the US. I would not have it any other way! However, in the back of my head, I knew it was true, I just didn't want to admit it to myself. Well, now hearing it from a Korean living in Korea that these things are the norm and anyone who is half-conscientious socially does this stuff at least to some extremity, it's just the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I'm sorry man. Maybe I'm more disappointed than I should be, but I'm a bit in disbelief in any case. http://www.asianplasticsurgeryguide.com/news10-2/081003_south-korea-highest.html#data They say it's not that bad. Only 2 times more surgeries is Korea compared to the US. | ||
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Xenocide_Knight
Korea (South)2625 Posts
People should keep in mind that while this presents the general outlook, it's not a black and white issue. As always, there's a clear gradient. Most people will be trying to look/dress a certain way. But there's a lot of ground in between 100% effort (surgery, makeup, clothes, accessories, etc) and 1% effort (you manage to put on clothing in the morning). From my experience, most people you interact with on a daily basis (completely based on what you do day to day) are like 50%-60% effort. Stuff like this On March 19 2012 15:01 JudicatorHammurabi wrote: Dude, are you trying to make me think shitty of Korea or something? I hate to admit it, but you did a good job :/. Btw, this is a guy who up to this point loved Korea. Biggest disappointment though was that everyone in SNSD got plastic surgery. Seriously, they look pretty much indiscernible from how they used to. Surgery makes some real miracles, I'll say that. And people like bashing we Americans for being messed up? IMHO, the Koreans really, really got us beat in that regard. These things described in the OP are just astonishing, ridiculous beyond measure, if not absurd to the point of hilarity. Damn, now I feel like I've been taking things for granted living here in the US. And this is the icing on the cake. They hate the country that is the reason they aren't under Communist rule and the reason why they aren't in the 3rd world. Please tell me you are joking me. Oh, and let's not forget about the part about being hardcore xenophobes... IDK rotinegg, but you really spilled the beans on a lot of things about Korea I've heard all about but was hoping wasn't true as the norm. Wow. I used to have a huge bias in favor of Koreans. Even dated a couple. I just don't know anymore. Like someone else said, I'm glad I don't live in Korea. Maybe I should be more thankful I live in the USA. The more I learn about other countries, the more I realize this is one fucking great country. Is a heck of a lot more messed up than any culture I've seen. So incredibly clear-cut blanket assumptions based on the little bit of information he just learned. It would be like if I assumed this was the way all Americans were: makes ridiculous conclusions over very little information, insufferably arrogant and patriotic, insults anything foreign or strange, and has no concept of points of view or opinions. EDIT: I hit post instead of preview -.-;; | ||
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Glastnost
16 Posts
http://www.asianplasticsurgeryguide.com/news10-2/081003_south-korea-highest.html (Sorry this is from 2009 but I couldn't find anything more recent) But according to this South Korea had 74 plastic surgeries per 10000 people, while Brazil had 55 per 10k, and here in the U.S. we had 42 per 10k. I just think that we should just try not jump to conclusions and call their culture "Disgusting". | ||
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