Comment by kinleyd
5 days ago
As a young man many years ago I happened to be in Seoul, in a shoe store. I was casually asking prices in English and noticed the salesman or owner was getting visibly angry with me. So much so that as I went around the corner of the store I clearly saw that he had begun advancing toward me, with every intention of physically attacking me. I put my hand forward to stop him and as I did, I shouted loudly, again in English, "Stop. Let me outta here!" To which he suddenly hesitated, stepped aside and let me go.
I wondered for years what I might have done to upset the bloke - he was a well built man and I did not want to fight him! It was only after the KAL crash and the coverage it gave the Korean focus on seniority and age that the penny dropped. He thought I was Korean - I do look very Korean (and Japanese and Chinese) - and was clearly offended by my not respecting his age.
At least that is what I would like to think. The alternative is that I was somehow very offensive anyway and I'd like not to think that.
In Germany I never had someone go to those lengths, but I've once made someone visible irritated when I used "du" instead of the more formal "Sie".
Of course I didn't notice but a friend just clued me into it right after.
Thing is, in Berlin nobody really cares I guess, but this time I was in the country... oooooops...
Interesting. In Germany I've always had the opposite issue of my superiors vastly preferring I used "du" for them instead of "sie". I've always had some trouble with that since in Russia you usually try to address senior employees, your teachers and professors formally, although tech companies are as usual a big exception.
Many people were quite unhappy when I kept slipping up and being too formal with them afterwards... :)
I think the issue is people you never talked with before! For people I know, you’re right, they prefer du.
That must've been quite some time ago.
With multiple areas with >50% migrants you can count yourself lucky if ppl even speak German fluently enough to hold a conversation.
And the last holdouts that are still mostly natives are usually in the countryside... And the du/Sie rule has always been an urban convention.
Personally, I think your friend just noticed the phrasing and made an issue out of nothing
Umm... I'm not sure I follow. You were casually asking prices in English and the shopowner jumped to the conclusion that you were trolling him by using English when you were fluent in Korean?
If it was around that time, most Koreans were not good at English, and it's not exactly hard to tell a native English speaker from a Korean who learned "I'm a boy, you are a girl" in middle school.
Sounds like the shopowner was just a jerk and was mad for some random reason.
It was in the early '90s, sometime before South Korea broke out as a dominant economic force. Yes, I'm convinced he thought I was a western educated Korean brat prancing around in his shop and was having none of it. Looking back, I still feel a sense of relief I didn't get beaten up.