Dal Ja's Spring, ep. 01-04

[oyceter]

I rewarded myself for finishing the first programming homework of my class by watching three episodes. Originally it was only going to be one episode, but I got a bit carried away.

Oh Dal Ja is 32 and unsuccessful in love. After being dumped, she runs into the younger Kang Tae Bong, who is apparently in the business of boyfriends for hire ("Need someone to meet your parents?" he asks her). As revenge, she hires him on.

I thought I knew where this was going, despite the Dramabeans praise; many hijinks ensue as Dal Ja attempts to get her old boyfriend back, female rivalry with her old boyfriend's new girlfriend, blah blah blah.

Only two episodes in, the show didn't go where I thought it would, and now that I'm four episodes in, I have no idea what it's going to do.

Right now, I particularly like the focus on Dal Ja's work life; she worked her way up and is now a manager of a TV shopping network (I think), and she very much enjoys being single. I also really like her relationship with network star Wee Seon Joo so far -- I had thought they would be rivals fighting over the same guy (tiresome), but there's a really nice bit in which the two don't end up as friends, but also don't fight.

We do get another love interest, but so far we don't know that much about him. On a minor note, hearing him on screen confuses me because the way he says things sounds a lot like Jang Chul Soo from Fantasy Couple. And I'm particularly interested in how Tae Bong is sidelined into giving Dal Ja romantic advice; he really does feel more like a little brother than a romantic interest half the time. The Dramabeans write up says he's almost too good to be true, but honestly, I like not having an alpha male on the scene. I also like how Dal Ja and Sae Do commiserate together after the breakup, though I could use with less drunk vomiting scenes. So far, no Piggyback of Affection, though I have no doubts that we will get at least one.

I would be happier if there were less jealous women; I wish they wouldn't be the focus of so many kdramas. Whenever we get them, I feel like the focus should be on the philandering guy instead. On the other hand, I very much like Dal Ja's relationship not only with Seon Joo, but also with her work eonni and with her mom and her grandma. I am also completely amused by her mom and her grandma's relationship -- is it her grandma from her dad's side? I'm sort of guessing that because the grandma keeps calling the mom "Dal Ja's mom," but she could just be crotchety. And ok, the liberal grandma vs. the conservative mom has been done before (Stephanie Plum!), but I still found it hilarious that the grandma liked Tae Bong a lot ("He's young! So much energy. That's very important for a marriage").

Alas, the grandma has yet to hit anyone over the head with a handbag.

I'm now curious as to how common marriage meetings/date set-ups are in S. Korea. I'm fairly sure dramas exaggerate it, but I can't figure out if it's a common plot point because it's handy for romantic comedies, or if viewers will sympathize with it, having been set up themselves.

On a side note: Han Kyul's grandma, hello! And Waffle Guy too! It's like Coffee Prince all over again!

Also, to join the bathroom humor often in kdramas, we have drunk vomiting too! Fantasy Couple had this as well, so I suspect it shows up even more in other dramas. I also laughed and laughed at the male impotence because I am evil like that.

In conclusion: I guess Dal Ja feels a little like Kim Sam Soon in that she's not afraid to tell people off at times, but she also reverts to girly speak fairly often (sunjeong mode?), which cracks me up. And did I mention that Kang Tae Bong is really cute? And nice? And really cute? And nice? Sadly, I think he lacks dimples, but that can be overlooked. (The noticing of dimples is also my sister's fault.)

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

is it her grandma from her dad's side? I'm sort of guessing that because the grandma keeps calling the mom "Dal Ja's mom," but she could just be crotchety

You should double-check this with vonnie_k, but actually that's kind of normal, for women to be called "[insert child's name here]'s mom." Or it was in my family; it was probably at least as polite, possibly even more so, than calling the woman by her name. So it isn't necessarily crotchety at all.

Do they call her wehalmeoni or chinhalmeoni? The former is grandmother on the mother's side, the latter on the father's side. (I had to google for the latter because, well, both my dad's mother and his stepmother died before he met my mom, so I never knew either of them.)

[oyceter]

Oh, you're right! I vaguely remember reading that now. Random language question #234987 (whap me if you are getting annoyed with them!): is it not that odd to call people by their name, without their surname? Like "Dal Ja-sshi" or something. I remember reading "Unstrung Zither" and forgetting to comment that it feels really weird to say Chinese names without the surname unless you're really close; it always sounds very intimate to me.

Hrm, I completely didn't catch if it was wehalmeoni or chinhalmeoni... will try to listen more closely during the next few episodes.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Huh. You wouldn't call people by their name unless you're close to them, yeah. And actually, to this day I embarrassingly do not know my own maternal grandmother's personal name because it was never used around me in everyday conversation and I wouldn't have called her by it EVER. You know, I'm going to ask you to ask vonnie_k, or wait until I can dig through the linguistics books with you, because I'm not entirely sure and I don't want to give you a wrong answer. Most of my experience is dealing with family (and my extended family was very tolerant of "foreigner" mistakes because me and my sister had basically had American schooling) or, um, hiding behind my parents while they do all the talking. And obviously the formality levels are different if they're talking than if I'm talking, etc.

[oyceter]

Yeah... I, um, was the same with my grandparents. I only ended up learning at funerals or while watching my mom get their ID cards and whatnot. I suspect people growing up more in Taiwan or Korean society would eventually figure out via documentation and such? Or socializing?

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Yeah...at some point when my mom was describing our family tree/history she must have mentioned the full name, but it didn't stick. There was just no reason for me to memorize it.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

"Dal Ja-sshi" actually would be a perfectly fine way for her colleagues or her boss to call her. The "--sshi" designation elevates the first-name-calling into a more formal territory, like "san" desgination in Japanese. It would be just as polite as calling her "Miss Kim" or something, although the fact that they know her name does put them on a more familiar territory. Her close friends, on the other hand, would call he just "Dal Ja" or "Dal Ja-ya" (if they're calling out to her.)

Hope that helped! (It cracks me up so much you're learning Korean through kdrama! Reminds me of the time when I was learning English by watching a gazillion rerun of "Family Ties" 20 years ago.)

[oyceter]

Yay! Language notes, thank you so much! I think Dal Ja's colleagues mostly do call her "Dal Ja-sshi," though I'm going to try and listen closer. I keep trying to think if Chinese does the same, or if it usually sticks to surnames, but I've had so little experience in non-school settings that I have no clue.

I, ha... yeah. This is how I first learned Japanese too -_-;;. I am only hoping that a) I can continue with actual, formal classes later, and b) I am not getting some absolutely awful version of Korea in my head, like how the first Japanese I learned was: "I am the death god! I will kill you!" (very informally and rudely)

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

P.S. I will try to fix "Unstrung Zither" on rewrite if it comes back with a rejection slip. Would the full name be used, or just the surname, to sound correct?

[oyceter]

I think it's usually the full name, unless it's surname + title, and no worries! It was a pretty minor thing.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks!

I'm trying to think...Korean, Korean...I feel like you'd either be addressed by family name + honorific (more formal) or personal name + honorific (casual or intimate) if you're going to be addressed by a name at all, and I kind of suspect Koreans prefer to avoid bringing names into it unless they're addressing much younger people or children. I dunno.

[oyceter]

Yeah... usually for formality it's surname + honorific, but I figure your protagonist isn't going to be addressing prisoners like that ;).

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah, she's polite, but not that polite. Besides, the secret police Phoenix Command would look at her funny.

...I need an "Unstrung Zither" icon, something with a Phoenix and a Dragon and a Zither! Hmm...

[oyceter]

Lemme know what text you want, and I can try to whip something up!

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Either "unstrung zither" or "a game of song and dragon" (yeah, I'm feeling punnish--do you like Cordwainer Smith?), whatever fits better?

You are awesomesauce!

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

that's kind of normal, for women to be called "[insert child's name here]'s mom."

Right. In fact, once a woman gets married, has children, and settles as a housewife, she rarely gets called by her own name, other than by friends she might have had before the marriage. (I haven't lived in Korea for 20 years though so take this with a grain of salt.) She's almost always "so-and-so's mom", to her extended family and everyone in the neighborhood. Her parents-in-law would certain call her "___ 's mom". Her own mother calling her that would not be out of ordinary either. 'Cause it's not like a woman has any identity outside motherhood once she spawns, oh no. *rolls eyes*

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that only people of an older or equivalent generation could call a woman "____'s mom." Is that true? I don't trust my own instincts on this one.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily. For example, a neighborhood kid would totally call a married next door neighbor "so-and-so's mom". OK, he'd probably call her "ajumma", but the former is just as likely, if he knew her child's name.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I see. I thought I remembered being scolded by my oldest cousin for misusing that construction, but it must have been in some other context.

[oyceter]

Heh, yeah. I'm guessing this doesn't happen with the men?

Thanks for the info!

[rilina.livejournal.com]

Tae Bong is rather adorable. It is such a relief not to get an alpha male.

I see you have discovered the world of Korean tv is very small; the same people show up over and over again even in the handful of shows I have watched.

I will have to pick up watching this again at some point.

[oyceter]

I am a little disconcerted to see how quickly I keep falling for the romantic leads! I draw sparkly pink hearts around Han Kyul and Jang Chul Soo (Fantasy Couple) and Tae Bong so far.

I feel so dorky following the actors -- I almost never do this, but I really was so tempted to watch the Bad Gong Yoo Teacher-Student one.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I'm on episode 7, and it has been revealed that the grandma is Dal Ja's father's mother. There was an incredibly cute mother/daughter bonding session with Dal Ja and her mother (which actually reminded me of my mother and made me cry a little. I'm so lame) and the grandma's spying on them and wishes she'd had a daughter as well as a son.

Mystery revealed!

Also, it's quite common in Middle Eastern culture to name a mother "Mother of [insert eldest son/daughter - if there are no sons - name here]". eg. Umm Abbas.

But men are also quite commonly called "Father of [child's name]". eg. Abu Abbas.

One of my mother's cousins has a daughter who is almost thirty now, and had her first son around 15 years later, so while she was more properly "Umm Ahmed", she was usually called "Umm Fatima"

Meandering back on topic, I really like Dal Ja's relationship with her apparent rival and her mentor, I have been forgetting that in my annoyance at the jealous woman cliche that keeps coming up.

[oyceter]

Ooh, ok, thanks! I wonder what happened to her dad (don't tell me!). Right now, I speculate tragic death (or not so tragic death) rather than divorce.

Ohhh, thanks for the culture and language notes. I love learning about this, so feel free to keep going off-topic ;). Insanely stupid question: the language for "Umm" and "Abu" is Arabic?

I'm glad you've been liking Dal Ja's relationship with Seon Joo; I sat up and went "Huh! Cool!" with the taxi scene.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what happened to the Dad either. I had assumed death, but nothing has been said yet.

Yeah, it's Arabic. And it's also possible to be called Umm [name] or Abu [name] as your name from birth, or Umm/Abu [quality], eg. Abu el Jamail meaning 'Father of good deeds'.

And use of surnames is entirely different. I have a surname, but I'm not known by it. My surname is my father's name eg. [my name] [my father's name] meaning [name] son/daughter of [father]. Arabs generally using ibn/bint to denote 'son/daughter of', eg. Aaminah bint Hussein. Of course I'm also not known (officially) by my father's name but my grandfather's name, because for some reason Britain likes children to have the same surname of at least one of their parents. This system also means that women generally keep their maiden names forever and ever, because the family you're born into is always the same, but a husband can be divorced, or die, or leave you.

Then there is the system of using a place-name (usually the village/city ones family originates from) as a surname. An Iranian way of doing this is by prefixing 'Afaily' to the town eg. Afaily-Tabriz, meaning 'born of/from Tabriz'.

Compared to what you asked me, that was an awfully long-winded reply.

[oyceter]

No, that's awesome! I don't know anything about Arabic, so this is great. Also, it makes me want to learn the language. I encourage more long-winded replies, though I sadly don't even know what questions to start asking.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Well, it's an odd mixture of Arabic, Somali and Farsi, really. I have a lot of family still living in the Middle-East/East and North Africa, so that is my area of expertise.

Everything I know about the Indian sub-continent comes from Bollywood and living near Southall in my youth, and pretty much everything else from various bits of pop culture.

Arabic is a beautiful language, despite every conversation said in it sounding like an argument.

completely OT: I watched Princes et Princesses was so beautiful! My favourites were Le Sorciere and that one in the future where cold-hearted heroine gets healed by the love of a hero, which is refreshing after my recent foray into romance novels. I'm also not as out of practice with French as I thought, I hardly needed the subtitles. I think it's time to binge on French films.

[oyceter]

Hee, I always feel Canto sounds like an argument too, as do most conversations in loud Chinese restaurants.

Oohhhh! I am so glad you liked Princes et Princesses! I love it so much! Those two are my favorites as well, particularly the future one! You should check out his Kirikou and the Sorceress too, which I adore. I am just sad that Kirikou and the Beasts isn't out here, siiigh.