Koreans apparently used to imagine that the extra barley you ate the extra you farted. Additionally they apparently believed that your farts smelled worse should you ate rice with barley blended in it. So Korean faculty youngsters previously most likely would not have wished to share a 2-person faculty desk with a poor child who ate rice with plenty of barley in it, particularly if that child not often washed his hair and had physique odor that smelled like a “cesspool” (시궁창). In Korea, poor individuals used to combine barley in with their rice as a result of barley was cheaper than rice.
Now think about that your instructor makes you and the scholars in your class change “desk companions” (짝꿍) as soon as each month. Final month the ladies acquired to decide on the boy they wished to sit down subsequent to in school, and this month the boys are supposed to decide on the lady they wish to sit subsequent to. The “barley-farter” (보리방쥐쟁이) on this class is 조수택, who works after class delivering the “night newspaper” ( 석간신문). Which lady will he select to sit down subsequent to, and the way will that lady react?
Up to now, when 조수택, who is best often called “보리방구”, was assigned a brand new desk companion, the brand new companion would all the time ask the instructor for a special companion, however the instructor all the time refused till 조수택, sensing that the scholar did not wish to be his desk companion, requested the instructor himself if he might sit alone within the again as a result of it could assist him examine higher since it could give him extra room to hold his bag on his chair and extra room to unfold out his elbows on his desk.
So, which lady in school will 조수택 select to sit down subsequent to, and the way will that lady react? The one trace that I will provide you with is that there are plenty of unhappy tales in Korea.
By the way in which, the adjective 멋쩍다 means “to really feel embarrassed, awkward, or uncomfortable,” however 멋 by itself can imply “style,” “appeal,” or “class,” and “-쩍다” means “to really feel” or “to have a sense,” so why does 멋쩍다 imply “to really feel embarrassed or awkward” as an alternative of “to really feel charming or elegant”? I’m not certain, however possibly the phrase 쩍다 here’s a dialectical pronunciation for 적다, which might imply “few” or “little.” So, possibly 멋쩍다 actually means 멋이 적다, which might translate as “missing appeal or class,” and that may suggest “awkwardness.”