By This is going to be a tough practice to change:
The name tags would help avoid the common practice of soldiers addressing South Korean base workers as “ajoshi†(uncle) or “ajuma†(aunt). Several South Korean employees had come forward with badge designs since the proposal was made, Newton said.
Kang Hyung-do, the USFK Korean Employee Union’s Uijeongbu chapter president, said he understands U.S. soldier’s use the words to be friendly with base employees, but that long-term workers — and younger employees — find the terms offensive.
“We think Col. Newton’s proposal is really great, affirmative and encouraging for us,†Kang said. “We hope this … can help to improve the human rights of our Korean employees.â€
I didn’t know I was committing human rights violations by calling the taxi driver ajushi. We better start putting these soldiers on trial in the Hague for daily human rights violations.
But seriously this is going to be a tough practice to change because everyone thinks that ajushi/ajuma is what the Koreans are supposed to be called in their language. Name tags will help to an extent because if I can see a person name I will use it. Many AAFES workers already wear name tages. Taxi drivers and bus drivers you can’t see their names when their driving. We’ll just have to see how this plays out but hopefully it doesn’t get blown out of proportion.
11:07 am on February 18th, 2007 1
Usually the gi's in the northern camps put an ebonic form into the mix and call taxi drivers or male workers 'shi and women are refered to 'ma. Sometimes there is a tone of contempt sometimes there is not. One of the service folks that I know has his employees wear name tags, but it has not changed anything in the way the Korean workers are addressed or held in contempt because of the poor service that is provided. Which came first, chicken or egg.
11:08 am on February 18th, 2007 2
GI, sometimes I get called Ajushi by GI in Korea. I told them that I am not a Ajushi and I am US Commissioned Officer. I thought I stand out as American in civilian clothes but most GI just think that any Korean looking men in Korea is Ajushi. It never bothered me whether I am called Ajushi on base or off base in Korea.
11:10 am on February 18th, 2007 3
GIs, you have a couple of years until the Koreans start to *proclaim* this habit like “We were forced to change our sir names, therefore we have a right to demand compensations for this.â€
Those who accepted called ajoshi and ajuma, they will be executed because they will be tabulated in another collaborator list.
11:10 am on February 18th, 2007 4
Yes you are right that when people us shi or ma that is offensive many base workers though I see that language usually used down in the ville and not to often directed towards camp employees.
11:14 am on February 18th, 2007 5
Now wait a damn minute! Koreans use the term, it is part of thier culture. It is NOT an offensive term. It's not like the "N" word or something. I am a white man and I've lived here for a while, and I am sometimes called ajushi… It's a common form of address. Here is an example, by a Korean:
"Ajushi", or uncle, is a polite title used for older men
I have always been taught by various Koreans that this is the proper term to refer to an older, or married man in Korea.
I can understand not liking the ebonic 'shi and 'ma… I don't like it either, especially the tone usually taken. So, perhaps USFK is overreacting. Instead of correcting the perpetrators (which would in and of itself be politically incorrect) we get this crap.
I don't get it. I don't know where this came from. It smacks of some sort of agenda, can't put my finger on what they are trying to get. Or, who's tring to get it, and what "it" is.
Signed
- Call me Ajushi!
11:27 am on February 18th, 2007 6
Exactly.
Also, it's quite rude to call a Korean stranger by theri given name, which will inevitably happen with these badges.
7:26 pm on February 25th, 2008 7
you do know taxi drivers (usually) have their names clearly displayed on the dashboard, right? same with bus drivers, except over the back door (of most buses i take).
1:05 am on February 26th, 2008 8
Sure, but then those names would be used surname-plus-title, which I'm guessing most soldiers don't know, even if they could sound out the name. I've found that sonsaeng-nim as a form of address works wonders in conversation with any (male) stranger whose name I don't know, an yangban as a third-party pronoun where the third party is present.
It might help things if soldiers were firmly reminded by their chain of command that Koreans aren't colonial subjects, and if the Korean staff of the base would not be so rude, lazy, corrupt and worthy of contempt. Good luck to both sides with that effort!
2:48 am on February 26th, 2008 9
It is also perfectly okay to address Korean males by their surname and adding the honorific "Shi" after that such as saying, "Han shi, Anyounghaseyo!" (Hello, Mr. Han!). This is not a practice to use for Korean females though. I think this is what they are trying to turn around to but it is also true that Koreans call each other Adjushi and Adjuma all the time. I believe it is becoming an accursed term because the younger men (some of the not married) are getting tired of being called that. There's also the crowd of younger Americans that believe it's perfectly okay to go around saying "Yo, shi." or other combinations of that phrase. This may sometimes lead the Korean male to believe that he is being cursed at instead of being a called to attention. The word "shi" is sometimes used as an abbreviated profanity for the Korean term for "son-of-a-bitch." This might be part of what is fueling all this furor.
As long as you correctly say Adjushi or Adjuma with a respectful tone and don't shorten it or make it sound as if you are talking down to a person, I believe it is not viewed as demeaning or disrespectful.
2:49 am on February 26th, 2008 10
Most of Korean man should not get offended by calling them Ajushi, but Women may get offended if you called them Ajuma to unmarried single women or even younger married women. It may be easier just to call Noona or Unnee to these women. They may get kick out of it.
If you know their last name, then call them Mr. Kim or Ms. Park. They do that in Korean corporate environment.
8:33 am on February 26th, 2008 11
In response to Brendon I think the colonial mentality is reinforced by the ville culture. The first thing new soldiers see is the sleazy ville filled with prostitutes, booze, drunks, run down buildings, and Koreans looking to rip you off. Is it any wonder why the soldiers have a low opinion of Koreans if all they see is the ville?
That is why I have always advocated on this blog to change the ville culture. Once the ville culture is changed than attitudes of soldiers will change as well. Leaders can talk all day about how great Korea is but these soldiers are going to spend 75% of their free time in Korea in the ville and that is going to influence attitudes about Korea more than anything else.
The USFK relocation to Camp Humphreys is an excellent opportunity to change the ville culture.
3:29 pm on February 26th, 2008 12
GI, Gi, gi…
Now, how are they going to skim the take in a nice, orderly, clean, corruption-free, prostitution-free, human trafficking-free ville?
How can they play the Off-limits Game, the Human Trafficking Protection Game, the We Don't See the Prostitution Game, the Golf Access Game, the Black Marketing Game, the Slot Machine Game, etc, Etc, ETC?
12:41 am on February 27th, 2008 13
One of our Katusa's in the S3 shop wrote a memo to the batallion specifically addressing the "shi" thing. And I very clearly remember the text of the memo saying pretty much exactly what Tim said. It went like: "When you're riding on the bus, don't say 'next stop SHI'. 'Shi' means 'damn'. The correct word is pronounced Ah-juh-shi."
I know things change a lot faster over there than they do in the English language so maybe they are phasing it out, but there's no question that ajushi was the polite word for a man you don't know then (96/97).
8:02 am on August 13th, 2008 14
other than " 'shi " , I also hear a lot of newbees saying Att-a-shi, not knowing any better. Maybe adding a "headstart' day of Korean languange lessons to inprocessing would help. They did it in Germany when I was stationed there, and I was grateful.