컴팩스 카카오톡 채널(http://pf.kakao.com/_EMNxfK) 친구추가 하시면 일주일에 한 번씩 다양한 주제의 포스트를 받아보실 수 있습니다.
Happy New Year! Seollal is a time when many
Koreans give gifts to friends and family. What would an American say when
giving a gift for Lunar New Year?
a) I’d like to present you with
some Spam.
b) I bought you something. It’s
Spam.
c) Happy New Year! Here’s some
Spam.
If you found this question difficult,
congratulations! None of these expressions are typical.
In the first place, Lunar New Year is not
commonly celebrated in the United States, except perhaps among Asian-Americans.
In fact, many Americans are not aware of the lunar calendar, even though they
may have heard of “Chinese New Year”. Further, Americans do not generally give
gifts for New Year’s Day.
So, what would an American say when giving
a gift for Lunar New Year? Good question.
a) “I’d like to present you with” is highly
formal and would most likely be heard at a ceremony.
For example, “I’d like to
present you with a Medal of Honor for your service to our country.”
b) When someone announces, “I bought you
something” or “I bought you a gift”, there is an expectation that the gift may
be something special; otherwise, it would not be announced.
c) Americans typically say “Happy New
Year!” on January 1, but we don’t give gifts. If you want to give them gifts,
you can just say “Happy New Year” and pass them a small present.
* Culture lesson
I recently visited Hawaii and was surprised
to see a large section of the grocery aisle stocked with a variety of Spam.
Ah,
Spam! I hadn’t thought of it since I lived in Korea a few years ago and was
given a boxed set for Seollal. I enjoyed my friend’s present, but it felt like
a peculiarly Korean cultural experience to receive Spam as a gift. In the
mainland United States, that would be unthinkable.
Spam originated in Minnesota in 1937 as an
inexpensive, canned meat product for sale during the Great Depression. Because
of its long shelf life, it later became a primary ration for American soldiers
serving overseas during World War II. Spam has been sold in grocery stores ever
since, but, outside of Hawaii, it seems to be dwindling in popularity,
especially among young people.
To them, the word “spam” conjures thoughts
of junk email, and they think of the canned meat as junk, too. However,
according to Wikipedia, the term “spam” for unsolicited email actually emerged
from a 1970 Monty Python TV sketch of a restaurant where Spam was prolific,
just like digital junk mail is prolific today.
We hope you enjoyed this language gift from
COMPECS.
Happy Lunar New Year!