Lost in translation...and relationships

My co-teacher uses quite a few special phrases/adjectives in English.  I can't really complain because she's far better at English than I will ever be at Korean, and I know there are many ESL teachers here whose co-teachers don't speak any English.

Still, some of our conversations are too priceless not to share.  For example, today I told her I was really hungry.

SH: Why are you so hungry?
Me: I don't know.  I ate breakfast.
SH: Maybe you are hungry because of food baby.

Clearly I explained the concept of food baby wrong to her (no, it's not something that makes you eat more food.  that's a real baby).  But I don't actually remember telling her about food babies, which is even scarier...did she pick it up somewhere else?  Could she possibly have another avenue into the world of American idioms?  Nah.  I do recall joking about being her being pregnant (she's always hungry), and she being quite horrified.  Maybe I toned it down to food babies after that.

And then of course there's the sad mistranslation that occurs everytime I get mail.  Everything coming through the post is a "package" according to her, so I have gone twice - twice - for my packages, only to discover small letters.  From the IRS.  Yes.  (If you're wondering, they were each letting me know that they had received my form 6166 application for US Residence. They were looking at it.  They would respond.  And if I had any questions, please don't hesitate to snail mail them.)

Our relationship conversations are priceless, partly because they deal with the same gender issues you'll find anywhere, but mostly because I get to tell her to break up with her boyfriend every week.  You can't do this with the goobers that your friends date because - as an article I recently read pointed out - one day you'll be invited to the wedding and you'll be that friend.  The one who didn't want them to work out.  The friend who hates love.  And if your friend actually ends up breaking with said deadbeat boyfriend, you'll be the know-it-all who didn't want them to work out. And hates love.  Lose Lose. 

(Also, my own personal problem, I'm not too good at denouncing bad boyfriends because I usually know them and get attached.  I see them as humans and want to give them a second chance.)

But with SH, I can freely and consistently urge her to break up with the jerk-who-tells-her-to-diet-when-she-is-clearly-size-zero because 1) I won't end up at the wedding, 2) if I do end up at the wedding I can chalk up our conversations to misunderstandings or cultural differences, and 3) I don't know him so I can demonize him to my heart's content. 

And no, I don't go around sprinkling Debbie Downer Dust on most relationships - I understand that the only two people who actually know what's going on are the people in the relationship itself (and even them only half the time).  But there are lines to be drawn, and SH's guy has crossed a few.  So I'm sprinkling DDD all over that mess.

Yup.

Posted in: relationships