Re: Korean politeness levels ( wasRe: Tonal Languages taken toextremes)

From: "Yoon Ha Lee"

> On Thursday, September 27, 2001, at 03:54 PM, Nik Taylor wrote:
> > I get the impression that it depends on the speaker, some people use
> > "sayonara" lightly, while others only use it for a permanent good-bye.
Well then, count me in the latter. I've never heard it used "lightly", and
would personally feel rather uncomfortable using it in place of "jya ne",
"mata ne", "mata ashita ne", "ki o tsukete ne", "otsukaresama deshita",
"osaki ni (shitsurei shimasu)" etc. etc.

> >> deferential: -(seu)mnida
> >> polite: -eoyo/-ayo
> >> blunt: -so/-o (infrequent)
> >> familiar: -ne  (infrequent)
> >> intimate: -eo/-a
> >> plain: -ta/da
> > Yikes!  *Six* levels?  Makes -masu in Japanese seem pretty pathetic.
(chotto) omachi kudasaimase
(chotto) matte kudasaimase
(chotto) omachi kudasai
(chotto) matte kudasai
(chotto) matte (ne)
mate!

I think Japanese can keep up if it needs to :)

> "ore" in Korean; my exposure has been woefully limited.
What does "ore" mean in Korean? In Japanese, it's a butch 1st person pronoun
(I would never have been able to use it with a straight face; I'm more a
"boku")

Kou

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