You know it is a bad sign when you walk into your place of work and your boss is looking at you and one of your co-workers is pointing a finger at you. You walk toward your desk and you are told "you are no gentleman."
Okay....and what exactly did I do to get that greeting?
Fast-forward about ten minutes and I understand they were using a saying similar to "speak of the devil;" you talk about someone and then poof, they magically appear. Turns out "you are not a nobleman/you are no nobleman" is a saying.
I know there are some weird sayings in English and I know they are some strange sayings in Korean (I have a book of them ^^) but imagine having to tell someone what "speak of the devil" means in another language and making sure they understand that you were not literally calling them the anti-Christ...it took five minutes for me to understand they were not upset at me and were just using a common saying.
And I just wanted to see if there was any extra yangyam chicken leftover in the fridge...
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1 comment:
Hi Rick,
Wow, some things sure don't translate. That is something, coming in to get a snack and thinking you are being insulted. "Speak of the devil" would be just as hard to translate.
This is an idiom you will remember.
Love,
Mom and Dad
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