"Yaw bo sey yo?"
"Hello? This is Paul Stringer."
"Yaw bo sey yo?"
"Yes, this is Paul."
"Yaw bo sey yo?"
"Um, 'Jeonhwa jal mote gawshawsoy yo.'" (literally, "You didn't call well" -- or "You have the wrong number")
" ... " "... Yaw bo sey yo?"
Why do Koreans seem to think that repeating "Yaw bo sey yo?" (their telephone version of "hello") will somehow magically change the person on the other end of a wrong number into the person they actually wanted to call? It doesn't matter what you say (well, it can, but more on that in a moment); they'll just continue to say it until you hang up. Even if they ask (in Korean, of course) "is so-and-so there?" and I understand what they're asking, and I answer "no," they'll still revert back to "Yaw bo sey yo?" apparently with the hope that those words will transform me into so-and-so.
There is a magical phrase that can sometimes break through to them, but it only works about 25-50% of the time. The phrase? "Mi gook daesagwan indey yo." ("This is the U.S. Embassy..."). Why it takes that sort of effort just to slow them down is beyond me, and like I said, even that usually only gives them a moment's pause before they start in with the "Yaw bo sey yo?" again.
I don't think it's my style, but I'm seriously considering adopting some sort of phrase I can repeat to people when I don't get the answer I want. I'll take suggestions -- the more annoying the better.
4 comments:
I'd recommend "zim zum," varying your inflection each time so that the other person is not sure whether you're speaking another language, asking for a person who might possibly be named Zim Zum (there's at least one who plays guitar), or trying to order some dim sum. Good luck.
Ooh, I had forgotten about "zim zum." I like it. Though the eel-full hovercraft is indeed an instant classic.
You could always borrow my line from college: "I like bacon."
People always seemed to think I out of nowhere was actually trying to tell them that I liked bacon. I wonder how the social experiment would work with Koreans? I suppose it would have to be translated first?
Good question. I will look into translating the bacon one and the hovercraft one into Korean. Unfortunately, "zim zum" will simply translate to "jim jum" since they have no "z."
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