the sign

I love how the sign pictured below starts off with a bit of English as a nod to the foreigners, then neglects to convey the essential information in English. It would have been better not to have any English at all on the sign (although a sunny optimist would take comfort in knowing what the sign was about, if nothing else).

This is emblematic of how Koreans communicate: they love to talk, but with disturbing consistency, they somehow neglect to convey the most essential information. This happens all the time: a loved one has a terminal disease, but the doctor isn't forthright with the patient about his or her condition; a supervisor from another department suddenly tells your department that a project must be completed weeks earlier than first discussed; your monthly pay date gets switched without notification, and it's only when you complain that your supervisor suddenly says, "Whoops, forgot to mention the campus-wide switch in pay dates." Or this one: your date tells you to meet her at Building X, which she says is "right next to" Building Y (where you are), but it turns out that her notion of "next to" really means "you need to walk a quarter mile thataway."*

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*You might argue that that last example isn't a case of neglecting essential information, but is instead a case of mistaken or incorrect information. I say that the required info went missing in that case just as much as in the other cases.