Very Very interesting, Steve! What a smart lady you married (in addition to
being kind-hearted). I love her story!
Barb
On Mar 10, 2022, at 12:34 PM, Steve <sfgrob@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Actually, Oki is pretty skilled at this. Her tiny country has several
regional dialects. As PD summarized, a result of " fiefdoms", or various
kingdoms throughout the millenniums.
Oki comes from a small, rural farm village in the very south part of the
country, a peninsula actually, off the main Korean peninsula. The dialect
there is very distinct and well recognized, but seldom understood outside the
region.
Oki was a very good student growing up. It is kind of a joke but she was
always 2nd in her grade-level no matter how hard she studied, she never could
make 1st throughout her primary and middle school years. Fortunately, the
girl who always beat her out was a good friend of hers and a distant
relative, so they got along well.
When Oki finished middle school, her oldest brother came from Busan, where he
lived and got Oki to bring her back to Busan to attend high-school there. It
was pretty well established that Oki was not well suited to be a farmer's
wife. Her mother recognized this early as Oki would always run away whenever
she saw any type of worm, or the like, in the fields and rice paddies. She
could not handle it when any of the animals were killed for food. Not good
traits for living on a farm. So when her brother showed up wanting to take
her to Busan, it was a welcome opportunity.
Once Oki got to Busan, she immediately recognized the dialect in Busan was
quite different from hers. She also had to take an entrance exam to enter
the high-school her brother wanted her to attend. It was/is a private
commercial girl's high-school that is somewhat exclusive. As she watched all
the applicants arrive for the entrance test in their father's
chauffeur-driven limousines she thought to herself, how is an education from
a rural school ever going to allow her to score high enough to get in?
So she kept to herself and took the test. When she went back to check the
list for the results, she didn't see her name on the accepted list. She went
back to her brother and reported that she had failed to make the cut. Her
brother did not believe it so he went back over to take his own look at the
list. He found it right away and came back to inform Oki she did indeed make
the list.
So what happened? Oki was so sure she was not educated enough to qualify she
started looking at the bottom of the list. There were hundreds of applicants
on this list and Oki finally gave up looking part way up the list and
returned home. Her brother, knowing how smart she really was, started
looking at the top of the list. And where did he find her name? 2nd from
the top, where else?
So here she is, a farm girl from "the sticks" as we might say, having to
attend a school filled with wealthy prep-school prepared female students.
Fitting in was a concern. So the first thing she did was learn to use the
Busan dialect. Her brother, who was pretty savvy, knew she needed to be well
dressed too, so he saw to it that she had the best quality school uniform to
wear. The deception was set.
Oki started school and immediately did well, made many friends and fit in
very well. No one suspected where she was from. Some time after her
assimilation into the Busan school culture, she was out with a group of her
new friends. The group came across a girl somewhere speaking the dialect
from Oki's area and the group of girls started making fun of the "country
hick". This didn't go on long and Oki had enough. She finally blurted out a
condemnation of these girls for their snobbery, in her native dialect!
Her friends were so shocked to discover that she spoke the Busan dialect
faultlessly, but was really from a different area, they could hardly speak.
When the shock wore off, the rude girls fell all over themselves apologizing.
Oki taught them a good lesson that day, and no, she did not lose any friends
when they learned where she was from, actually gained a little more respect
from them as Oki could "pass" as a native speaking Busanian.
By the way, when Oki graduated high-school, where do you think she placed in
her class? 2nd place - of course.
It is kind of funny when we travel to various parts of the country. Oki is
still quite adept at picking up and using the dialect of the region we are
visiting. It is not unusual when seeking local information from someone to
ask Oki where she is from originally, because she is using their regional
dialect, but is unfamiliar with the area, confusing them.
Steve
On 03/10/2022 09:33, donnakasch (donnakasch) wrote:
DP, re. the dialects, yes there are many! Some are still used by the localsTo post, send email to FHS-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and please be sure to sign all
when talking to each other. But except for Sicily, everywhere we've been
uses standard Italian, albeit with a different accent just like here.
My point was that it's hard to believe anyone would know how to speak
multiple dialects. Understanding them is more believable since they're not
always that different.
Donna
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: "dpolhill("dpolhill")" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 3/9/22 6:56 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: fhs-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:fhs-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [fhs-65] Re: Italy!
Hi Donna,
Blue type today ... to annoy Penny
DP
In a message dated 3/9/2022 1:48:39 PM Mountain Standard Time,
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Hi Dennis,
As for the WW2 question, I have no idea! Not very informed on WW2 history
but I am reading Daughters of Yalta right now! It's true, but not informed
much on the details. I think about the lonely grunt in the trench asking,
"which direction are we shooting today?"
John wasn't able to get dual citizenship. It had to do with when his
great-grandfather naturalized but I don't remember the details. It was
important to us at the time because we wanted to move to Italy. That didn't
work out for a couple of reasons. We can visit as tourists for up to 3
months at a time, and we're looking forward to when John retires so we can
stay longer. bummer. It would be fun to have a backup citizenship
As for Sinatra's mother knowing so many dialects, I'd say that's highly
unusual! Italians are known for staying close to where they grew up,
especially in the past. I'm happy to say that the only part of Italy we've
been where understanding a dialect was a problem is Sicily. I credit that
to their isolation and being quite backward in many ways. if I recall, Italy
did not become a nation-state until about 1900. prior it was a gazillion
fiefdoms ... a left over from feudalism. That would partly explain the many
dialects.
Thanks. Have a great trip.
DP
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: "dpolhill("dpolhill")" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 3/9/22 3:19 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: fhs-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:fhs-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [fhs-65] Re: Italy!
Hi Donna,
I wanted to ask how John's dual citizenship was working out?
We watched a bio of Frank Sinatra and his mom in NJ could speak 29 or so
different dialects of Italian and often acted as neighborhood translator.
And it is true that Italy changed sides during WW II but they did not do
much of anything to help once they were on our side and Mussolini was dead.
Thanks.
Dp
In a message dated 3/8/2022 6:13:17 PM Mountain Standard Time,
dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
We just booked our flights to Italy for a trip we've had to postpone twice!
We'll be there 2 weeks ( first half of May). Four nights on Lake Como. 4 on
Lake Garda, then 4 in Cortona, our home away from home in Tuscany. We're
going with another couple, our best friends and travel buddies.
I AM SO EXCITED!
Donna
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
your posts and replies.
