By Via 10 Mag comes this video of tow trucks in South Korea racing to be the first to respond to an accident:
This is a common problem on Korea’s roads where miscellaneous businesses put emergency flashing lights on their vehicles and then expect everyone to get out of their way, while at the same time the ambulances are stuck in traffic. Watching this video was almost like watching someone play a video game considering how crazy this driving was.
5:18 pm on December 2nd, 2011 1
I read somewhere those sirens and emergency lights are illegal. If that’s the case, it makes me wonder why cops aren’t giving out fines to these clowns. I also find it quite ironic that the guy has probably got that camera set up to determine fault in the event that he’s involved in an accident. As to how the video was leaked, one can only hope it wasn’t leaked after his reckless driving finally killed someone.
7:21 pm on December 2nd, 2011 2
Love the music playing on the radio!
7:42 pm on December 2nd, 2011 3
7:58 pm on December 2nd, 2011 4
#3,
Yes, makes me wonder what city it is. It looks like Kwangju, but I’m guessing it isn’t because he would have run over a few jaywalkers (Kwangju pedestrians are fearless)
Perhaps Masan/Changwon? I hear it’s the worst place for driving in Korea, which is rather surprising, especially for Changwon which, with its multi-lane avenues and boulevards, has been obviously planned by a competent urbanist. Masan, on the other hand, is a mess of winding streets going up and downhill, particularly in the downtown area. I’ve driven there. For the relatively small number of cars on its spacious roads (it’s not Kangnam, that’s for sure), the drivers are very aggressive. Great place to go for a walk during holidays, though. Pratically nobody is originally from Changwon, or at least that was the case in the 90′s when I used to visit a friend who lived that, so you’ve got deserted streets all to yourself on Chuseok and Solnal. Some restaurants and bars remain open on those days despite the fact that the city is practically a ghost town, so it’s actually a very relaxing experience.
8:52 pm on December 2nd, 2011 5
They got nothing on Houston wrecker drivers. I guarantee, you’ve never seen anything like it.
12:13 am on December 3rd, 2011 6
The city is Daegu. He’s on the same road that leads to Camp Walker’s back gate. In fact, he passes by Camp Walker in the video. Accident looks to be in front of the Homeplus store, about half Kilometer from the back gate.
12:19 am on December 3rd, 2011 7
Video at 2:58, the left turn he blows through is the entrance to Camp Walker, back gate.
5:26 am on December 3rd, 2011 8
Tom wrote:
Teadrinker responded:
If you agree that they speaking with a Kyongsang accent, why would you think the city might be Kwangju?
Kwangju is in the heart of Jeolla Province – and the Jeolla accent is distinctly different than a Kyongsang accent.
5:52 am on December 3rd, 2011 9
#8,
Distinctly different? Not quite. They are similar, or at least more so than they are similar to the Kyongi accent.
10:07 am on December 3rd, 2011 10
No they’re not similar
6:39 am on December 4th, 2011 11
#10,
So, you’re saying that the moment you step across the provincial boundary, the dialect automatically changes?
You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.
10:18 am on December 4th, 2011 12
Teadrinker,
I can’t believe you are trying to say Kwangju and Daegu dialects are similar.
Kyongsang dialect still has remaining traces of tonal speech patterns from Middle Korean that clearly indicate which homonym is intended.
And read ANY book on Korean language or history.
Start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Provinces_%28Korea%29
You will find the provincial boundaries followed dialect which followed geography…
…something that continues to show itself in everything from politics to applying for a job.
Just let it go.
11:56 am on December 4th, 2011 13
Teadrinker wrote:
Have you been to the border? There’s no one and nothing there. Kyŏngsang and Chŏlla people are almost all clustered away from each other, and for those who go back and forth, they probably switch one on and the other off, even subconsciously.
I wrote about this last year, but I used to have to make frequent trips between Seoul and Kwangju by car, and I always found the signs for the highway to Taegu comically ominous. Who in Kwangju would want to travel to Taegu (or vice-versa)?
The one time I actually had to drive from Kwangju to Taegu, I realized the answer was “almost nobody.” That was the least travelled expressway I’ve ever been on, reminding me of Interstate-5 in California’s San Joaquin Valley late at night in terms of a lack of cars. At some point it squeezed down to a two-lane road, even though it’s a national expressway, and it looked like they had no plans to change that. The rest area in the middle was a ghost town. The people working in the hyugeso on each side had the appropriate dialect.
As for the dialects, one time I drove a Chonnam Uni student, with parents in tow, to Kwangju to move into an officetel. The father, who was from Taegu, was utterly silent the entire time we were in Kwangju for fear of revealing his Kyŏngbuk saturi.
5:31 pm on December 4th, 2011 14
You gotta admit, the guy has some mad driving skills. Now, if only the expats living in North America could drive as fast.
5:34 pm on December 4th, 2011 15
P.S. “Push it to the limit!”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRua4TkRec
6:10 pm on December 4th, 2011 16
#12,
Ancient history and boundaries are not relevant today, are they? No, the dialects are similar…and by similar I mean in terms of phonetics only, of course.
6:36 pm on December 4th, 2011 17
Teadrinker wrote:
For crying out loud…even for a non-native Korean speaker like myself, the difference is as plain as the day is long.
You made a stupid statement and got called on it.
Just accept it and move on.
10:16 pm on December 4th, 2011 18
“Ancient history and boundaries are not relevant today, are they?”
Uh… yes?
“The boundaries between the eight provinces for the most part followed rivers, mountain chains, and other natural boundaries, and consequently corresponded closely to dialect and cultural divisions. Because of this natural fit between the provincial boundaries and the “real world,” most of the provincial boundaries and names have survived in one form or another down to today, and most Koreans are keenly aware of the regional and dialect distinctions that still exist.”
What’s wrong with you, Teadrinker?
If you want to maintain credibility in debatable issues like Global Warming Alarmism, you need to maintain credibility in issues that have been established for 500 years.
1:00 am on December 5th, 2011 19
kushibo, if Tom identifies Korean accents correctly, is he really Korean after all?
1:09 am on December 5th, 2011 20
Sure, Glans. And ChickenHead, too.
Even if a non-native Korean speaker didn’t recognize the accent from a plethora of gangster-themed movies, all it would take is showing the video to a Korean-speaking friend and asking, “where’s that accent from?”
Now if he could answer, what was the one single huge giant building in your neighborhood when you lived there, that might mean something.
1:18 am on December 5th, 2011 21
Tom, what was the one single huge giant building in your neighborhood when you lived there?
1:24 am on December 5th, 2011 22
Glans, let’s not get into this again. Tom gave a general backstory which fell apart when people asked details that he didn’t know.
And a true native Korean speaker would likely have recognize it was a Taegu accent and not merely a Kyŏngsang-do accent. But maybe that’s too nitpicky.
2:35 am on December 5th, 2011 23
#17,18,
Not so much. Never heard of urbanization?
Yes, the stereotypical accents are different, but, once again, I was speaking in terms of how they compare to standard Korean (you know, the Seoul dialect). They are very similar phonetically. Again, phonetically. Did I say they are the same? Hell, even I can tell the difference between the Masan and the Pusan accent.
Keep arguing if you want, I think you are confusing dialect with accent.
6:15 am on December 5th, 2011 24
I think, in fairness, we should let everone in on the situation.
Teadrinker and I secretly agreed to test the other commenters to see if they had the balls to stand up and disagree with obviously foolish statements.
After betting on the outcome of a current event, Teadrinker lost and had to play the part of the idiot insisting on their own version of reality.
We considered saying black was white or North Korea was kind… but those were too obvious.
We tried Global Warming Alarmism… but, to our shock, a number of people actually tried to support the unsupportable even when it became obvious that the panic and reality were no longer on the same page.
Korean accents seemed like a topic that many would not know or care about… but a perfect test to see who had some idea about Korean history and who is interested enough in the world around them to spend 2 minutes doing some Google research and righting a wrong.
After a bit of anaylsis, we will release our results.
Good job Teadrinker. It is shocking to think they are dumb enough to fall for your stupid act. You really had those idiots going.
Daegu and Kwagju accents are the same… heh… that cracks me up… dummies… they either bought it or just went along with it.
Teadrinker, you were right. People are more passive or stupid than I suspected.
6:18 am on December 5th, 2011 25
After it was correctly identified as a Kyongsang accent – you said you wondered if this was taking place in Kwangju.
So either you haven’t got a clue about Korean accents – or you don’t know sh!t about Korean geography. Or you suck at both.
And WTF does the Seoul dialect have to do with it?? NOTHING. Talk about a lame diversionary tactic…
Arguing?? I stated a simple fact. And in doing so, pointed out that you were wrong. Several posts later – you’re still flailing around in the deep water trying to grab onto a life preserver that isn’t there.
6:21 am on December 5th, 2011 26
Getting away from the linguistics debate for a moment. A funny little story of an experience with four tow truck drivers.
A month or so back I was sandwiched in the middle of a 4-car pile-up. The first ones there were the wreckers, of course. Next were the insurance reps (except mine–who must have driven like the 아주마 that she was), followed soon after by the police to make sure everything was being dealt with and names and IDs taken. While I was waiting for my insurance rep to arrive, I was approached by all four of the tow truck drivers asking me to use their services. They each said that they’d provide me with a foreign rental car (Mercedes, Audi, or similar class–all of them a step up from my own car). It had the feel of each of them recommending a brother-in-law’s service. I simply shrugged each of them off and did my best to ignore them.
When my insurance lady arrived, two of them told her that I’d agreed to use their service–which of course I had not. She simply called her own flatbed to take my little A3 away. They all swore at her and called her names.
They are like sharks just waiting to come in. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. Seeing this makes me just a little happy that they were all turned away.
(and I don’t know what regional dialect they were using; assuming it was Seoul, but I wasn’t really listening since I was so pissed off at the idiot in the Galloper who hit me)
8:45 am on December 5th, 2011 27
Just look at the controversy I’ve caused!
Kushibo as usual talking nonsense. If I am a non Korean, as keeps claiming, and I saw this video for the first time, why would I ask what kind of accent he has to a Korean friend? wouldn’t I just naturally presume that the tow truck driver is speaking Korean?
2:58 pm on December 5th, 2011 28
Chickenhead, what was the one single huge giant dialect in your neighborhood when you lived there?
5:03 pm on December 5th, 2011 29
Strange coincidence. Today this was big news.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/12/ferrari-mercedes-lamborghini-japan-crash.html
Eight Ferraris. Two Mercedes. One Lamborghini. In a pile up valued at more than $1 million in Japan. And there are posters who claim this is proof Asians can’t drive…
6:43 pm on December 5th, 2011 30
#28,
He clucks with a marked lisp.
6:46 pm on December 5th, 2011 31
#29,
8 Ferraris, 2 Mercedes, and 1 Lamborghini for 1 million dollars only? I think your source screwed up the numbers.
PS. The guy who caused the accident is a 60 year-old man who was behind the wheel of one of the Ferraris. Yup, little old men in big powerful cars. Recipe for disaster.
6:49 pm on December 5th, 2011 32
#25,
Try identifying the finger that I’m pointing at the screen right now. You only get one guess.
7:03 pm on December 5th, 2011 33
32 – Your thumb?
9:36 pm on December 5th, 2011 34
I can’t tell if it is a ladyfinger or a butterfinger.