Friday, January 10, 2020

found during my lunchtime walk

An angry note?


The first line of the note is easy enough to translate: "You're really bad." But the second line doesn't make much sense to me. I think it says "My whole day is you," which sounds more romantic than angry. Anyone got a better translation, or at least an explanation? I assume this was written by a girl. Is she saying that the bad person in question essentially ruins her entire day? If so, then why not just say that instead of phrasing the matter in a way that can be interpreted in several different ways?

EPILOGUE: I asked our supervisor, a Korean-American, about the above note, and he immediately said it was meant in a flirtatious way, so my tentative guess that the bottom line was meant romantically appears to be correct. This means that, when you're reading the top line of the message—"You're really bad!"—you need to read it in a flirtatiously teasing tone. It's stuff like this that proves to me I still haven't penetrated all that deeply into Korean culture, even after fourteen years here. I'd never have figured the note out on my own. Or, at the very least, it would have taken me a very long time to get at the true meaning.



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